602 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



1882, unprecedented for its mildness, I several times observed 

 it in Lewis County, in Northern New York." 



But the original recorder of the hibernation of Zapus^ 

 Dr. B. S. Barton, of Philadelphia, makes these somewhat 

 contrasting observations in 1804:^° 



"In the month of August, 1796, one of these little animals 

 was brought to me from the vicinity of this city. It was put into 

 a large glass jar, where I was so fortunate as to preserve it for 

 near four months. Though it made many efforts to escape 

 from its confinement, it seemed, upon the whole, pretty well 

 reconciled to it. It continued active, and both ate and drank 

 abundantly. I fed it upon the bread, the grain of Indian corn 

 {Zea mays), and the berries of the Prinos verttcillatus, some- 

 times called black-alder. 



"On or about the 22d of November it passed into the 

 torpid state. It is curious to observe that, at the time it became 

 torpid, the weather was unusually mild for the season of the 

 year, and moreover the animal was kept in a warm room, in 

 which there was a large fire the greater part of the day and 

 night. I sometimes roused it from its torpid state; at other 

 times it came spontaneously out of it. During the intervals 

 of its waking it both ate and drank. It was frequently most 

 active while the weather was extremely cold in December; 

 but when I placed the jar upon a thick cake of ice, in the open 

 air, its movements or activity seemed wholly directed to the 

 making of a comfortable habitation out of the hay with which 

 I supplied it. It was sufiliciently evident, however, that the 

 cold was not the only cause of its torpid state. It was finally 

 killed by the application of too great a degree of heat to it, 

 whilst in its torpor. 



"During its torpor it commonly laid with its head between 

 its legs, with the claws or feet of these closely applied to the head. 

 Its respiration could always be perceived, but was very slow. 



"The fact of the torpidity of this little animal is known 

 to the gardeners and others near the city. They call it the ' seven 

 sleepers,' and assert that it is frequently found in the earth, at 



^ Trans. Am. Phil. Soc, 1804, Vol. VI, pp. 143-4. 



