132 THE REASON WxIT : 



" For all he did was to deceive good knights, 

 And draw them from pursuit of praise and fame, 

 To slug in si out h and sensual delights, 

 And end their daies with irrenowned shame." SPENSER. 



put the sloths in motion to seek their cool and moistened meaL 

 During the day they suspend themselves in a motionless state 

 beneath the branches of trees ; but when the cooler night 

 approaches, and the leaves are covered with dew, they rouse and 

 regale themselves. Their note is, therefore, an expression of joy, 

 which is heightened on the approach of a storm. 



405. Why is the sloth, and some other animals, enabled to exist 

 throughout the winter without food or motion ? 



At the end of autumn, from the abundant supply of food which 

 these animals are able to procure, they retire to their winter 

 retreats loaded with fat. This serves as a reservoir of nourishment 

 adequate to the supply of the small expenditure that takes 

 place during their torpid state. On the return of spring, they 

 are aroused from their lethargy, the fat being generally 

 greatly diminished. 



406. TM animals thus circumstanced voluntary motion is altogether suspended, so 

 also in .he process of digestion ; several of the secretions are suppressed, as the 

 saliva and gastric juice, &c., the senses are likewise sealed up, and the circulation 

 is diminished. The hamster, in which the pulse beats 150 per minute in a state of 

 activity, has it reduced to 15 in its torpid condition. The dormouse, whose pulse 

 is so rapid as scarcely to he counted when in its ordinary state, has it reduced to 

 the same low standard when torpid. Respiration is also affected in a remarkable 

 degree, not only in the number, but in the fulness and regularity of recurrence. 

 Marmots in a state of health and activity, perform about 500 respirations in an 

 hour, but in the torpid state these occur only fourteen times during the same 

 period, a td are performed at intervals of four or five minutes absolute rest ; neither 

 is the chest enlarged to any considerable extent. Sensibility is much diminished ; 

 parts of the limbs may be cut off without the animal showing any signs of feeling. 



407. Why, although the sloth is apparently ill provided with 

 the means of defence and of procuring its food, is it in reality 

 well provided for these exigencies ? 



Because, in the first place, their long shaggy hair defends them 

 from the insects which in the climate they inhabit are so trouble- 

 some ; and, in the next place, the texture of its coat is very peculiar, 

 Viorc resembling dry hay, or grass shrivelled and withered by the 



