BOOK VIII. Lvii. 137-LX. 141 



lynxes have learnt this and know it, and they 

 jealously cover up their urine with earth, thereby 

 causing it to sohdify more quickly. 



Another case of ingenuity in alarm is that of the 

 badgers : they ward ofF men's blows and the bites 

 of dogs by inflating and distending their skin. 



LVIII. Squirrels also foresee a storm, and stop The 

 up their holes to windward in advance, opening ^?"'""*'- 

 doorways on the other side ; moreover their own 

 exceptionally bushy tail serves them as a covering. 

 Consequently some have a store of food ready for the 

 winter and others use sleep as a substitute for food. 



LIX. It is said that the viper is the only snake Hibernatiou 

 that hides in the ground, all the others using holes "Jj^^naiis. 

 in trees or rocks. And for the rest they can last 

 out a year's starvation if only they are pi'otected 

 against cold. AU kinds sleep at the period of 

 retirement and are not poisonous. Snails also 

 hibernate in the same way, these indeed retiring 

 again in the summers also, mostly clinging to rocks, 

 or even when violently bent back and torn away, 

 nevertheless not going out. But those in the 

 Balearic Islands called cave-snails do not crawl out 

 of their holes in the ground and do not hve on grass, 

 but cling together in a cluster Uke a bunch of grapes. 

 There is also another kind, which is not so common, 

 that shuts itself in with a tightly fitting Hd formed 

 of the same material as its shell. These are ahvays 

 buried in the earth, and formerly were only dug 

 up in the neighbourhood of the Maritime Alps, 

 but they have now begun to be pulled up in the 

 VeHtrae " district also ; however the most highly 

 commended kind of all is on the island of Astypalaea.* 



LX. The greatest enemy of the snail is the Uzard ; The Uiard. 



99 



