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out humidity ; and, that these humble beings are un- 

 known in the desarts of Arabia, and the scorched sands 

 of Africa. 



Mr. Barbut observes, they differ extremely in co- 

 lour and external appearance, in the different periods 

 of their growth, which has occasioned people, little 

 acquainted with the variations of these animals, to make 

 four or five different species of them. The fertility, 

 texture, and colour of the soil, have considerable in- 

 fluence on their natural appearance. In a rich soil they 

 are more numerous and larger, than in one that is 

 poor. There are but few to be found, and of an inferior 

 size, in an argillaceous soil of a firm consistence — 

 owing to its barrenness and the difficulty which they 

 necessarily find in performing their little peregrina- 

 tions. Those that inhabit a black soil are of a dark 

 complexion ; a yellow one, of nearly the same hue— 

 so that their colour partakes in a great measure of the 

 colour of their habitation. 



It is supposed, by naturalists, that they keep al- 

 ways below the frost during the winter. I have exa- 

 mined the earth frequently the last winter, and have 

 uniformly found them two or three inches below the 

 frost, in a torpid state. The ground was not frozen 

 more than six inches deep when I made the examina- 

 tion. 



I wished then to ascertain, whether exposing them 

 to the freezing point, would prove fatal to them j I 



