314 INDEX. 



rather in a torpor, a stagnation of all faculties : its heat not 

 more than ten degrees above congelation : the flesh said to 

 have a wild taste, and to cause vomiting : countries where 

 it is found : inhabitants of the Alps do not till winter open 

 its hole : produces but once a-year, and brings forth three 

 or four at a time : they grow fast, and their lives are not 

 above nine or ten years, iii. 152. 



Marrow (spinal), and the brain, the first seen as begun in 

 the embryo, ii. 20. 



Martin, its description, the most beautiful of all British beasts 

 of prey : its scent a pleasing perfume : the yellow-breasted 

 martin : its fur more valuable than the white-breasted sort: 

 M. Buffon supposes them a distinct species : that distinction 

 unnecessary : of all the weasel kind the most pleasing, iii. 

 83. Resembles the ermine and polecat, and like them is 

 fond of honey, 75. Seldom meets the wild cat without a 

 combat : wild cat not a match for the martin : kept tame 

 by Gesner and M. Buffon : often slept for two days, and 

 then was two or three days without sleeping : the yellow- 

 breasted more common in France than England : in their 

 retreat the female brings forth her young, three or four at 

 a time : and they come with the eyes closed : how she 

 compensates for her deficiency of milk : this animal more 

 common in North America than in Europe : found in all 

 northern parts of the world, from Siberia to China and 

 Canada : in every country hunted for their furs, very 

 valuable, and chiefly so when taken in the beginning of 

 winter : one part of its skin most esteemed : twelve thou- 

 sand of these skins annually imported into England from 

 Hudson's-bay, and thirty thousand from Canada: small 

 birds alarm the spot where the dam keeps her young, and 

 direct the hunter in his pursuit, 85, &c. Its nest generally 

 the tenement of the squirrel, taking possession, and killing 

 the owner : the white-breasted keeps near houses and vil- 

 lages, the yellow keeps in woods, leads a savage life, 86. 

 Seizes also the flying-squirrel, 151. 



Martin, a bird of the swallow-tribe, iv. 281. 



Marum, cats excessively fond of this plant, ii. 393. 



Mastiff, one of the three descendants of the shepherd's dog ; 

 chiefly a native of England; when transported into Den- 

 mark becomes the little Danish dog, iii. 12. The Dutch 

 mastiff, 15. 



Mastiff- fox, second variety of foxes, less than the greyhound- 

 fox, and stronger than the cur-fox, iii. 53. 



Maturity attained to by slow steps, announces a slow march to 

 old age; as true in other animals as in men and vegetables, 

 ii. 63. Sooner arrived at in India than in Europe, ii. 83. 



Maw, in fishes possesses the power of digesting, v. 11. 



Maximin, (the emperor) a prodigy of strength ; several in- 



