^lil INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS, 



"have lived fix, and vipers the fame time. How- 

 ever, allowances muft be made, if this happens 

 In winter, during extreme cold, when the digef- 

 tive and fecretory powers are feeble, and if the 

 animal, of v.'hatever kind, is liable to torpor. A 

 common garden fnail lived eight months on a 

 pane of my window, nor do I know that it was 

 then dead. Redi had a cameleon that lived eight 

 months without food, and vipers ten. Vaillant 

 had a fpider that lived as long ; nay, its flrength 

 was at that time fufficient to kill another, put un- 

 der the receiver wliere it. was kept, as large as it- 

 felf, and quite vigorous. According to different 

 authors, fom.e of thefe animals, fuffering long ab- 

 ftinence, have not become much emaciated. Mr 

 John Hunter inclofed a toad between two ftone 

 flower pots ; it lived fourteen months, and was 

 then as lively as ever. M. Sue quotes inftances 

 of the fame animals living eighteen months with- 

 out either food or refpiration, becaufe they were 

 clofely fealed up in boxes or veiTels. M. Herif- 

 fant confined three toads in a box, and then co- 

 vered the whole with a coat of plafter : the 

 box was opened in eighteen months, and one of 

 the toads v/as ilill alive. Land tortoifes lived 

 eighteen months with Redi; Muller kept hydrach- 

 nae equally long. But Baker had a beetle that 

 lived three complete years without food, and 

 then efcaped ; and Virey cites Plempius for 



leeches 



