26 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



and silent, lying like dead things, yet awaiting only 

 warmth to be endowed with quick perceptions, 

 prodigious strength, and violent instincts. Mere 

 natural cold does not hurt the lesser forms ; 

 indeed, some may be frozen into brittleness, and 

 yet afterwards, if slowly thawed, be none the 

 worse. A humble-bee or a wasp, white with frost, 

 and so stiff that it may be rolled about, seems a 

 strange object to be alive and well. But more 

 wonderful is the wintry death-in-life of the quick 

 and intelligent lizard. He, so active in summer, 

 now lies asleep in his burrow, inert, and at the 

 mercy of any subterranean beast or insect ; but 

 when warmth returns he awakes, crawls out into 

 the glow, and basks. Impressive, too, though in- 

 significant, is the silent community of ants, now 

 revealed by the spade. There they rest motion- 

 less, crowded closely, and sharing the common 

 peril and the common hope even more unitedly 

 than they face death, or enjoy a feast in summer. 

 This helpless mass, as powerless as a fallen leaf to 

 avert further disaster, yet retains, though in 

 abeyance, the amazing intelligence, the ceaseless 

 industry, the priceless devotion to the common 



