HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 405 



facilitate the transportation of their food, Nature 

 has furnished them with two pouches in each 

 cheek, which they fill with corn, beans, or pease, 

 till they seem ready to burst; and on their return 

 to their holes, empty them, by pressing their two 

 fore feet against their cheeks. The quantity of pro- 

 vision found in these magazines, depends on the 

 age or sex of the inhabitants. The old Hamsters 

 often amass an hundred pounds weight of grain ; 

 but the young and the females are satisfied with 

 much less. 



At the approach of winter, the Hamsters retire 

 into their subterraneous abodes, the entrance to 

 which they shut up with great care: there they 

 remain in perfect tranquillity, and feed on their 

 provisions till the frost becomes severe, when they 

 sink into a torpid state, in which they continue till 

 the return of spring. During this period, if any 

 of the holes be opened, the Hamster is always 

 found lying upon a bed of soft straw, with its head 

 turned under its belly between the two fore legs, 

 and the muzzle resting upon the hind ones : its eyes 

 are shut, every member perfectly stiff, and sensa- 

 tion so totally suspended, that neither respiration 

 nor any other sign of life can be perceived. When 

 dissected in this situation, the heart may be seen 

 alternately contracting and dilating very slowly; 

 the fat appears to be coagulated ; and the intestines 

 are quite cold. During this operation, the animal 

 seems to feel very little : it sometimes opens its 

 mouth, as if it wanted to respire ; but the lethargy 

 is too strong to admit of its entirely awaking. 



They copulate about the end of April, when the 

 males enter the apartments of the females, but re- 

 main only a few days. If two males happen to 



