So ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. I. 



notations on La Contemplation de la Nature, a 



work 



confounding the one with the other. Montbeillard con- 

 ceives, that inftin(51: may induce them to conceal them- 

 felves in the earth during winter. 



* Achard, coming down the Rhine in 1 763, procured fome 

 birds, evidently fwallows, quite torpid and inanimate, 

 drawn from their fandy holes. Being put next his fkin, 

 they recovered, and flew away. But this obfervation only 

 proves, that there exift fwallows fubjedl: to real lethargy 

 without determining what fpecies. Therefore, notwith- 

 ftanding all that has been written on it, the queftion is flill 

 dubious. In two years, I opened above fifty fwallows 

 holes on the Banks of the Po, without finding any thing 

 but their nefl or its remains, which demonflrates that the 

 owners had gone to winter in other climates. Tin's re- 

 calls an obfervation by Collinfon, who did the fame, and 

 he difcovered nothing. 



* On the 15 of June four fwallows confined in a glafa 

 veffel were immerfed in a mixture of foda and ice. The 

 thermometer fell to freezing without afFecling them ; I 

 confined them again, and the thermometer fell to 10°. In 

 twenty minutes they were taken out. They could fcarce- 

 ly move, or ftretch their wings ; their eyes were fhut, ne- 

 verthelefs they gradually recovered, and in half an hour 

 flew about the apartment. 



* The experiment was repeated ; tliey lived thirty minutes 

 at the fame degree. Put on their backs on a table, they 

 were motioRlefs at firfl ; then after many efforts they re- 

 covered 



