Life in Autumn Storm 257 



in autumn and winter can charge with moisture 

 the deeper veins of the land, so that the springs 

 gush full and clear through all the summer-time, 

 and the fullest verdure luxuriates in the hollows 

 and by the pools. With very few exceptions, the 

 live creatures that withdraw most swiftly before the 

 autumn storms and fogs are precisely those which 

 are most dependent upon them for their future 

 satisfaction. The lizards of our sunny heaths 

 are the true salamanders, athirst for a longer 

 summer and fiercer noons than England can give ; 

 the great eft of southern gorges, with the yellow 

 guinea-spots, is as much a lover of dankness as the 

 toad. But, except for the lizards and a few other 

 rare or inconspicuous creatures, the abundant 

 moisture of England, with the consequent profusion 

 of plant and insect life, is a requisite for the exist- 

 ence of most of the lovers of mild airs and sun. 

 When autumn descends, each has its own way of 

 facing it. Many creatures of very different con- 

 stitution lie hid in sleep. Snails creep into the 

 crannies of the garden-wall behind the apricot 

 branches, and seal themselves with a tissue of slime 

 until the spring sun strikes through the stone. 

 Those butterflies which pass the winter in the winged 

 state creep into the same kind of crannies and into 

 many other hiding-places among dead brushwood 

 or the roots of heather. Hedgehogs find their 

 refuge among deep, dry leaves ; and the bat hiber- 

 nates in towers and tree-trunks, though it is stirred 

 uneasily by tides of warmth to flit in the winter 

 day. The bird-like bat shows its real animal affi- 

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