114 WONDERS OF ORGANIC LIFE. 



myriads of gnats and minute insects which 

 afford a passing meal ; it then retires to its 

 recess, suspends itself, and falls asleep again. 

 Some species, doubtless, hybernate more per- 

 fectly and enduringly than others. We have 

 seen the Pipistrelle bat all on the alert on 

 the afternoon of a fine day in December, in 

 February and March ; in short, as Mr. Bell 

 observes, " this, the most common of our indi- 

 genous bats, will sometimes make its appear- 

 ance in fine weather in almost every month of 

 the year," not restricting itself, we may add, to 

 the obscurity of evening. 



The great bat or noctule ( Vespertilio noctula) 

 appears, however, to sleep very profoundly. 

 It is never seen abroad in winter ; it appears in 

 April, and retires at the close of July or in the 

 month of August ; we have ourselves seen it 

 ilying high over a grove of sycamore trees in 

 August. It hybernates in considerable assem- 

 blages. Moths and large coleopterous insects, 

 as the chaffer-beetle, appear to constitute its 

 food. 



Another example of imperfect or partial 

 hybernation is afforded us by the store-collect- 

 ing hamster, that scourge of the corn-plains of 

 middle and eastern Europe. In this case, the 

 duration of true hybemating slumber is very 

 short, and does not take, place until long after 

 the animal has retreated to its subterranean 

 chamber. 



We have sufficiently indicated what we mean 

 by perfect or continuous , and imperfect or inter- 



