146 WONDERS OF ORGANIC LIFE. 



CHAPTER VII. 



JESTIVATION, OR SUMMER SLEEP. 



From hybernation we now turn to what may, 

 with great propriety, be termed ^Estivation. 

 In intertropical climates, a continuance of heat 

 and extreme dryness produce the same effects 

 on animals and plants as does the cold of winter 

 in our temperate latitudes. Mr. Darwin, from 

 whom we borrow the term, in his interesting 

 work, (Voyages of the "Adventure" and 

 "Beagle,") gives us a graphic picture of the 

 stillness which reigns over plain and forest 

 during the hot season of drought. The croco- 

 diles and snakes are all torpid and buried in 

 the ground ; the quadrupeds all inanimate ; 

 some, as the Tanrec of the Mauritius, become 

 lethargic ; the birds seek the dense shade. 

 Not an insect is to be seen. Life appears to 

 stagnate. But no sooner has the rain set in, 

 than the scene becomes changed as if by magic. 

 Those that were sleeping, awake and rouse up, 

 and the aspect of nature is renovated ; and not 

 unfrequently has the native tenant of a newly- 

 erected hut or cabin been startled by the 

 shaking of the floor, and the bursting forth of 



