330 COLLOQUIA ENTOMOLOGICA. 



a howl without as the unanimous voice of a thousand furies. 

 The shts were manned, and the rifles cracked one after another, 

 and at each report a new howl arose. 1 was not backward at 

 the sport when I understood it. The moon had risen and 

 made it as light as day ; the wolves were dancing and jumping 

 about I should think by hundreds, and so close, that it was 

 impossible to miss them. After every crack, whilst the howl 

 of anguish or rage died away, the puff of smoke sailed off with 

 the wind among the trees of the forest, compact as a balloon, 

 but unimpeded by the boughs. Two hours passed in this way 

 until all had fallen or fled ; and what is remarkable, when one 

 of them fell, two or three of these famished and ravenous 

 wretches instantly began to gorge on him, — these became vic- 

 tims in their turn, — and many died with the flesh of their half- 

 living companions still in their mouths ! 



Erro. Horrible ! 



Rus. As we resumed our journey the next morning, I was 

 glad to get away and lose sight of the bloody snow ; the long 

 tracks which some poor creatures had made, as they vainly at- 

 tempted to fly from the death they carried with them, made me 

 feel some compunction for the deed. 



Ent. They would have felt but httle for you, I imagine, 

 had they laid hold of you. 



Rus. I reasoned so, and satisfied myself. 



Ent. Mr. Grey tells me they are a positive pest, nightly 

 prowling about the farm-yards and courts, even in the environs 

 of St. Petersburg. 



Rus. The bears live through the winter entirely in their 

 dens, never coming out at all or eating any thing, but subsist- 

 ing entirely by sucking their paws. The old father and mother 

 bear, and often five or six young ones of different sizes and 

 ages, live together in one den, which is always under the 

 largest tree they can find ; as the snow falls, the hole of their 

 dens very often gets blocked up, and then they set to work 

 and clear it out again, always keeping it open as a breathing 

 hole, so the breath of all of them must come out through it ; 

 and as it mounts up among the branches of the trees it freezes 

 and makes little icicles ; these in time grow larger and longer, 

 till they all join into one which reaches down to the surface of 

 the snow, on which it rests and forms a huge upright pillar, 

 which is pointed at top, and, as the breath continues to 



