HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 453 



lie had found caterpillars so fro;:on, tliat wlien dropped 

 into a glass they chinked like stones, Avhicli neverthe- 

 less revived"*. Reaumur, indeed, repeated tiiis expe- 

 riment without success ; and found that when the larvae 

 of Bombi/x Pityocampa^ F. were frozen into ice by a 

 cold of 15" R. below zero {^^ F. below zero), they 

 could not be made to revive''. But other trials have 

 fully confirmed Lister's observations. My friend Mr. 

 Stickney, before mentioned as the author of a valuable 

 Essay on the Grub (larva of Tipula okracco) — to ascer- 

 tain the effect of cold in destroying this insect, exposed 

 some of them to a severe frost, which congealed them 

 into perfect masses of ice. When broken, their whole 

 interior was found to be frozen. Yet several of these 

 resumed their active powers. Bonnet had precisely 

 the same result witli the pupa; of Papilio Brassic(f', 

 which, by exposing to a frost of 14" R. below zero 

 (0' F.), became lumps of ice, and yet produced huitter- 

 fties^ Indeed, the circumstance that animals of a mucji 

 more complex organization than insects, namely ser- 

 pents and fishes, have been knov. n to revive after being 

 frozen, is sufficient to dispel any doubts on this head. 

 John riiniter, though himself unsuccessful in his at- 

 tempts to reaniuiate carp and other animals that had 

 been frozen, confesses that the fact itself is so well 

 authenticated as to admit of no question''. 



On Avhat principle a faculty so extraordinary and so 

 contrary to our common conceptions of the nature of 

 animal life depends, I shall not attempt to explain. 

 Nor can any thing very satisfactory be advanced with 



" Lister. Goeclart. de hiseitis, "6. ^ I?o:iiim. ii. 142. 



•^ G^uures, \i. I'J. '' Obsci cations on the Animal Econouiij, 99. 



