TORPIDITY OF REPTILES. 143 



into a pupa condition, a state which may be 

 fairly regarded as one of hybernation, as well 

 as of preparation for a development of organs 

 hitherto in their germ, a new aspect, and a new 

 mode of life. On the approach of winter, worms 

 plunge deep into the ground, so as to avoid the 

 frost ; but the depth to which they burrow 

 depends upon that to which the ground is 

 frozen. We have seen their borings below the 

 alluvial soil, carried some depth into the under 

 stratum of superficial brick clay. Leeches 

 hybernate in the mud. With respect to marine 

 worms, as lug-worms, etc., we cannot speak 

 positively, but we suspect that during winter 

 they remain quiet in their deep borings made 

 in the sand or mud of the beach. So much, 

 then, for a general view of the most remarkable 

 of the phenomena displayed by animal beings. 



But if we go to the vegetable kingdom, 

 shall we not there also find a species of hy- 

 bernation? Annuals perish, but is not the 

 bulbous root of a hyacinth, or tulip, or lily, the 

 hybernaculum of a germ in which the vital 

 principle lies concentrated, protected by enve- 

 lopes forming a sort of nest ? Therein lies the 

 future plant, ready to peep forth, when the 

 severity of midwinter is passed, or even in 

 winter under artificial shelter. Let us look at 

 the trees of our woods and fields — the oak, the 

 sycamore, the horse-chestnut, the elm, the pop- 

 lar, etc. Is not every sleeping bud itself, as we 

 have said, a distinct organism, enveloped in a 

 scaly covering, sometimes woolly, sometimes 



