CHAP. VIII. HIBERNATION OP QUADRUPEDS. 241 



known to form caves, in which they fall into a state of 

 complete or partial somnolency. Bats,, in the same 

 manner, retire into caverns, hollow trees, or old build- 

 ings, in vast numbers, where they pass the winter in a 

 state of torpidity. The loir, or fat dormouse, however, 

 is a more interesting example : it rolls itself into a ball, 

 and, in that state, as it has been said, may be tossed 

 about without its being awakened to consciousness, 

 nothing appearing to effect its resuscitation but long 

 exposure to heat.* 



(257.) The jumping mouse of Canada, according to 

 a communication made by general Davies, makes a very 

 curious and artificial preparation for the cold season, 

 a specimen of which was discovered in a gentleman's 

 garden, about two miles from Quebec, in the latter end 

 of May, 1787. " It was," we are told, " inclosed in 

 a ball of clay, about the size of a cricket-ball, nearly 

 an inch in thickness, perfectly smooth within, and about 

 twenty inches under ground. The man," it is added, 

 "who first discovered it, not knowing what it was, 

 struck the ball with his spade, by which means it was 

 broken to pieces, or the ball would also have been pre- 

 sented to me." -j- The M us Cricetus, or hamster, how- 

 ever, above all other quadrupeds, appears to fall into 

 the most complete torpidity; every animal function 

 being so completely deadened, that it is said the creature 

 may be cut open without exhibiting any signs of sensi- 

 bility: the heart, however, may be observed to contract 

 and dilate alternately, but with a motion so slow, that 

 the pulsations do not exceed fourteen or fifteen in the 

 space of a minute. The strongest stimulants are of no 

 avail ; and the electric shock may be passed through the 

 animal without exciting any appearance of irritability.^: 



(258.) Amphibious animals of cold and temperate 

 climates generally pass the winter, like the tortoises, 

 beneath the surface, in a state of torpidity. Frogs and 

 toads both burrow into the earth at this season. Mr. 



* Wood's Zool. vol. iii. p. 119. f Linn. Trans, vol. iv. p. 156. 



$ Sbaw's Zool. Lect. vol. i. p. 10& 



