o2 ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. !>• 



lifiied 1770; where he obferves, that, with the 

 fame defign, he confined feveral fwallows in an 



ice-houfe, 



where the thermometer fiOod at 43°, died without be'- 

 coining lethargic ; whence I conckided, that thefe bird.; 

 were incapable of fupporting cold. In my Qpufcoli di Fiftca 

 yJnitnale e Vegetah'ile, I repeated the fame remark : the fadb 

 was true, but I deduced a falfe confequence ; for they 

 bear a much greater degree without inconvenience. 



* Several fpecies were fhut up in wicker bafkets, covered 

 with wax-cloth topreferve the humidity, and buried in fnow. 

 In twelve hours, they were ftill vivacious, and crept clofe 

 together to fecure themfelves as much as poffible againft the 

 cold. The next twelve hours, they were in the fame ftate. 

 Two could fiy languidly about the ice-houfe. In thirty- 

 five hours four were dead, two houfe fwallows, a bank fwal- 

 low, and a martin ; the reft were fo weak, that they could 

 neither ftand nor fly, neither did they make any effort to 

 cfcape. Still, thefe fymptoms rather indicated infirmity 

 than lethargy : their eyes were not fhut, and they refem- 

 bled dying birds in every thing. Not one was alive in ten 

 hours more. All periftied in 48 hours in another experi- 

 ment. 



• It was neceffary to cover the bafkets with wax-cloth, 

 for two fwallows, expofed without this precaution, died in 

 two hours and a half, and were as wet as if they had been 

 drenched in water ; which has certainly been the cafe with 

 thofe mentioned in my note on La Contemplation, as I re- 

 coUe^^ perfedly well that they were very humid. 



• Nine 



