160 ANIMALS OF THE 



temperature, they do not become torpid, but eat 

 and sleep at proper intervals, like all other quad- 

 rupeds whatever. 



From the above account, we may form some 

 conception of the state in which these animals 

 continue during the winter. As in some dis- 

 orders, where the circulation is extremely lan- 

 guid, the appetite is diminished in proportion, so 

 in these, the blood scarcely moving, or only mov- 

 ing in the greater vessels, they want no nourish- 

 ment to repair what is worn away by its motions. 

 They are seen, indeed, by slow degrees to be- 

 come leaner in proportion to the slow attrition of 

 their fluids ; but this is not perceptible except at 

 the end of some months. Man is often known 

 to gather nourishment from the ambient air ; and 

 these also may in some measure be supplied in 

 the same manner ; and having sufficient motion 

 in their fluids to keep them from putrefaction, 

 and just sufficient nourishment to supply the 

 waste of their languid circulation, they continue 

 rather feebly alive than sleeping. 



These animals produce but once a-year, and 

 usually bring forth but three or four at a time. 

 They grow very fast, and the extent of their lives 

 is not above nine or ten years ; so that the spe- 

 cies is neither numerous nor very much diffused. 

 They are chiefly found in the Alps, where they 

 seem to prefer the brow of the highest mountains 

 to the lowest ranges, and the sunny side to that 

 in the shade. The inhabitants of the country 

 where they chiefly reside, when they observe the 

 hole, generally stay till winter before they think 



