79 



CHAP. VII. 



TORPIDITY. GENERAL REMARKS. TORPIDITY OF 



INSECTS. THE ANT. SIREN LACERTINA. MAR- 

 MOT DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF TORPIDITY, AND 



REMARKS IN ILLUSTRATION. INDUCTIVE CON- 

 CLUSIONS. 



THERE are few topics less understood than the tor- 

 pidity and migration of animals, though the most 

 curious features in their physiology. The strangely 

 protracted sleep in the former case is a phenomenon 

 remarkable in itself, but remains as yet a problem : 



" Sic sine vita, 

 Vivere quam suave est, sic sine morte raori." 



As the following observations on the peculiar habits 

 of the tortoise, and experiments made on the tem- 

 perature of the dormouse, animals that become tor- 

 pid, may eventually aid the question, so some previous 

 remarks on the phenomena of torpidity may not be 

 out of place. In the insect world we are presented 

 with numerous instances of torpidity, which ought, 

 however, to be carefully discriminated from hibernation. 

 Toward the close of autumn, and when winter is press- 

 ing on its confines, insects are busied in looking out 

 for safe retreats, wherein they may securely pass the 

 brumal period of the year. Some of these, thus shel- 

 tered from the storm and surrounded by non-conduct- 

 ing media, enjoy a temperature unhinged by meteor- 

 E 4 



