820 Mr Murray on the Torpidity 



in this state the eyes were closed, and the head and neck a 

 little contracted, though not drawn within the shell. Its sense 

 of smelling was so acute, that it was roused from its lethargy 

 if any person approached even at a distance of twelve feet. 



About the beginning of October, (or latter end of Septem- 

 ber,) it began to immure itself, and had for that purpose for 

 many years selected a particular angle of the garden ; it en- 

 tered in an inclined plane, excavating the earth in the manner 

 of the mole ; the depth to which it penetrated varied with the 

 character of the approaching season, being from one to two 

 feet, according as the winter was mild or severe. It may be 

 added, that for nearly a month prior to this entry into its dor- 

 mitory, it refused all sustenance whatever. The animal 

 emerged about the end of April, and remained for at least a 

 fortnight before it ventured on taking any species of food. 

 Its skin was not perceptibly cold :* its respiration, entirely 

 effected through the nostrils, was languid. I visited the ani- 

 mal, for the last time, on the 9th June 1S13, during a thun- 

 der-storm ; it then lay under the shelter of a cauliflower, and 

 apparently torpid. 



It is very singular that the lettuce and dandelion should find 

 such predilections with the tortoise. The lactescent juice of 

 the former, from the opium it contains, is powerfully narcotic, 

 and I have found that the extract, taraxici, applied to the 

 sciatic nerves of a frog, acted in a similar manner to opium, 

 by suspending voltaic excitement. It is also remarkable that 

 these should have been rejected when the fruit season com- 

 menced, and the strawberry and gooseberry take precedence. 

 Its antipathy to cherries is equally curious, and not less so its 

 aversion to fluids ; in which last, however, we have an analo- 

 gy in the alpaca, &c. 



On the whole, that narcotics or sedatives should take pre- 

 cedence, of all other kinds of food, in the former part of the 

 season, and those that act a different part, in the animal eco- 

 nomy, toward the autumn, is certainly surprising. 



• Dr Davy took the temperature of the Testudo geometrica at Cape Town, 

 in May — air 61° ; the animal 62°.5. At Columho, in Ceylon, on 3d March, 

 the temperature of a larger specimen was 87°, while the air was 80°. 



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