THE CHRYSALIS YEAR. 



material in a shapeless mass into the per- 

 manent tissues ; but they hold it there, 

 ready to manufacture it once more into 

 bright green foliage and tasselled catkins, 

 into blushing apple-blossoms, or tall spikes 

 of horse-chestnut flower, or pink bloom of 

 elms,[with the first spring sunshine. Squirrels 

 hibernate ; moles sleep away the dead of 

 winter ; frogs retire to the depths of ponds ; 

 slugs bury themselves in the soil ; dormice 

 doze in well-lined crannies among the boles 

 of hazels. Many species only tide over the 

 cold weather, indeed, in the most potential 

 form, as eggs or seeds ; they are annuals, 

 like the poppy or the aphides of roses. In 

 such cases the whole race is represented 

 for some months by its germs alone: one 

 generation never sees or knows the exist- 

 ence of another. In other instances, some- 

 what higher, the species survives as pupa 

 or as bulb, adult, no doubt, though in a 

 relatively formless or indefinite shape, yet 

 ready to come forth full-fledged and perfect 

 127 



