HIBERNATION OF ANIMALS. 195 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC AND URUGUAY. 



his ground as much as he chose; but it has frequently been 

 necessary to post soldiers at the sluices, to see that each estate 

 took only its proper allowance during so many hours in the 

 week. 



HIBERNATION OF ANIMALS. 



WHEN we first arrived at Bahia Blanca, September 7th, 

 1832, we thought nature had granted scarcely a living crea- 

 ture to this sandy and dry country. By digging, however, in 

 the ground, several insects, large spiders, and lizards were 

 found in a half-torpid state. On the 15th, a few animals be- 

 gan to appear, and by the 18th (three days from the equi- 

 nox), everything announced the commencement of spring. 

 The plains were ornamented by the flowers of a pink wood- 

 sorrel, wild pease, and geraniums ; and the birds began to lay 

 their eggs. Numerous insects were crawling slowly about; 

 w r hile the lizard tribe, the constant inhabitants of a sandy 

 soil, darted about in every direction. During the first eleven 

 days, while nature was dormant, the average temperature was 

 51; and in the middle of the day the thermometer seldom 

 ranged above 55. On the eleven succeeding days, in which 

 all living things became so animated, the average was 58, 

 and the range in the middle of the day between 60 and 70. 

 Here, then, an increase of seven degrees in the average tem- 

 perature, but a greater one of extreme heat, was sufficient to 

 awaken the functions of life. At Montevideo, from which we 

 had just before sailed, in the twenty-three days included be- 

 tween the 26th of July and the 19th of August, the average 



