Chap. 59.] VIPERS AND SNAILS. 311 



and so, stopping up its hole at the side from which the wind 

 blows, it leaves the other side open ; besides which, the tail, 

 which is furnished with longer hair than the rest of the body, 

 serves as a covering for it. It appears, therefore, 96 * that some 

 animals lay up a store of food for the winter, while others 

 pass the time in sleep, which serves them instead of food. 



CHAP. 59. (39.) VIPERS AND SNAILS. 



It is said, that the viper is the only one among the serpents 

 that conceals itself in the earth ; the others lurking either in 

 the hollows of trees or in holes in the rocks. 97 Provided they 

 are not destroyed by cold, they can live there, without taking 

 food, for a whole year. 98 During the time that they are asleep 

 in their retreat, none of them are venomous. 



A similar state of torpor exists also in snails. These animals 

 again become dormant during the summer, adhering very 

 powerfully to stones ; and even, when turned up and pulled 

 away from the stones, they will not leave their shells. In the 

 Balearic isles, the snails which are known as the cave-snail," 

 do not leave their holes in the ground, nor do they feed upon 

 any green thing, but adhere to each other like so many grapes. 

 There is another less common species also, which is closed by 

 an operculum that adheres to the shell. 1 These animals al- 

 waj 7 s burrow under the earth, and were formerly never found, 

 except in the environs of the Maritime Alps ; they have, how- 

 ever, of late been dug up in the territory of Liternum ; 2 the 



been some difference of opinion respecting the identity of the animal, which 

 Pliny calls " meles;" by some it has been supposed to be the polecat, or 

 else the weasel. B. 



M * This bears reference to what is said of bears in c. 54, and of Alpine 

 mice and hedgehogs. 



97 This statement is contrary to the account given by Aristotle, Hist. 

 Anim. B. viii. c. 15 ; he says, that while other serpents conceal themselves 

 in holes in the earth, vipers conceal themselves under rocks. -B. 



98 Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 473, that 

 nothing is more striking, either to the vulgar or to the man of science, 

 than the long abstinence from food which serpents are capable of 

 enduring. B. 



99 Cavatica. 



1 This is the case with the Helix Pomatia, and still more so with the 

 Helix Neritoidea, which is very common in the neighbourhood of Nice, 

 and which, at the approach of winter, is furnished with an operculum of 

 great thickness. B. 2 See B. iii. c. 9. 



