106 THE REPORT OF THK ^o. 19 



seemed to be getting ready to make a jump, when the slate was put on and pot and toad buried 

 for another year. 



I have always had a desire to know what wa3 the result of that experiment, as a mystery 

 of great interest surrounds the hybernation of animals, that can be satisfactorily cleared up 

 only by such a method of investigation. And I had great hopes of obtaining some further 

 information about it from Mr. C. S. Alston, and referred to it in one of my letters to him ; but 

 all he said in reference was, " I have often heard my father speak of the toad in the hole." 

 And now that he is gone, possibly all knowledge of the transaction is forgotten. 



Some animals seem to be capable of entering into a comatose condition at pleasure ; 

 others, only when constrained by external conditions. Hybernation may be either partial or 

 complete. In the case of the mammalia hybernation is only partial, as respiration and circul- 

 ation are not wholly suspended ; the creature coming out of that state in a greatly reduced and 

 exhausted condition, proving that a prolonged period of time in that state beyond what is usual 

 to it, would certainly end fatally with it. In the reptilia the case is different. When they go 

 into hybernation it is complete, respiration and circulation being totally suspended, and thei-e- 

 fore there is no wasting of their substance, giving good reason for the belief, that under suitable 

 conditions, they might remain in that state indefinitely and come out alive, with sufficient 

 vigor to enable them to fulfil the functions of their life as if nothing unusual had occurred to 

 them, thus lending support to the wonderful stories that have been put in circulation about 

 them ; and that there may be after all some truth in them. 



In entomology, the internal and external influences at work in producing hybernation, 

 partial or complete, are about as various as the life histories of the spe'cies indulging in it. And 

 very little careful investigation has been made to discover the powers of endurance that may 

 be possessed by any of them to resist a prolonged period of suspended an'maticm without 

 injury. Accidental observations have been made which prove that some species are capable of 

 enduring a period of hybernation far beyond what is usual with them, and come out of it with 

 their powers unimpaired by it. Herein we have an important matter for scientific investigation. 

 In view of the fluctuation of temperature on the earth's surface since life appeared upon it, the 

 advantages to any species possessed by such powers, must indeed have been very great. It 

 would enable it to go into a state which would in a measure make it oblivious to the adverse 

 conditions suri'ounding it, which otherwise would have exterminated its species, thus placing it 

 in a position when circumstances were again favorable for propagating its kind, to continue its 

 career and thus affect in a marked degree its distribution on the face of the globe. 



When I got into communication with Mr. Angus at first, he was engaged in making a 

 collection of Catocala, of which he ultimately secured, by purchase or exchange, one of the 

 largest and most complete collections of his time. His ambition being to have every 1-nown 

 species and variety represented in it. Hamilton was particularly rich in this atti'active genus, 

 and the late Mr. William Murray turned his attention almost exclusively to it for a time, and 

 supplied Mr. Angus with many specimens that he was then in want of. Mr. Angus, having 

 become an expert in the nomenclature of the genus, rendered us much service in naming 

 our specimens. 



There were to be found in the neighborhood of Hamilton about twenty species that 

 might be fairly pronounced abundant, and some of these had their varieties in goodly numbers 

 associated with them. 'I'hen there were eight species that were considered as rare. Our 

 favorite and most productive hunting ground for C«fo('a?(( was what has been more 'recently 

 known as the Asylum Woods. Only at that time the Asylum had not come into existence, so 

 it was designated after its nearest resident neighbor. It was an extensive bit of virgin forest, 

 composed of large oaks, hickory, beech and maple, with very little under-brush, an ideal day- 



