cling to it. It is on record that sixty 

 bats have been found in one cluster, the 

 entire weight of the lot being sustained 

 by the one bat clinging with its hooks 

 to whatever it had fastened them to at 

 the start— a weight of at least ten 

 pounds. The position of the central 

 bat in such a cluster would be like that 

 of a man hanging by his thumb-nails 

 and supporting the weight of fifty-nine 

 other men. So completely is anima- 

 tion suspended in the bat during the 

 cold months that no test yet applied 

 has induced it to show the least sign of 

 life. Torpid bats have been inclosed 

 by the hour in air-tight glass jars and 

 not a particle of oxygen in the jars 

 has been exhausted when they were 

 taken out, showing that the bats had 

 not breathed. 



As cold drives certain animals, in- 

 sects, and reptiles to a state of torpid- 

 ity, so heat and lack of water bring 

 about the same condition in others. 

 The animal or reptile that hibernates, 

 or goes to sleep in cold weather, ar- 

 ranges its body so that it will conduce 

 to the greatest warmth, while those 

 that estivate, or become torpid in warm 

 weather, place themselves in positions 

 that show that they want all the cool- 

 ness the climate will permit. The ten- 

 ric, a tropical animal, carnivorous and 

 insectivorous, becomes torpid during 

 the greatest heat, and lies on its back 

 with its body drawn to its greatest 

 length, and its limbs spread wide apart. 

 Snakes estivate in the South, all kinds 

 together, just as snakes hibernate in 

 the North, but instead of rolling them- 

 selves in great balls, as the northern 

 snakes do, they lie singly, and stretched 

 to their full length. 



Want of water will cause the com- 

 mon garden snail to go into a state of 

 the most complete and curious lethargy. 

 This is the snail of the genus Limax, 

 not the larger one of the genus Helix. 

 In the latter the phenomenon of hiber- 



nation is especially remarkable. In 

 November the snail forms just a soft, 

 silky membrane across the external 

 openingof its shell. On the inner sur- 

 face of that it deposits a coating of 

 carbonate of lime, which immediately 

 hardens the gypsum. This partition is 

 again lined with a silky membrane. 

 The snail then retires a little further 

 into the shell and forms a second mem- 

 branous partition, retiring again and 

 again until there are six of these parti- 

 tiofts between the snail and the lime- 

 coated door at the entrance of the 

 shell. In the recess behind all these 

 partitions the snail lies torpid until May. 

 All this time it lives without motion, 

 without heat, without food, without air, 

 without circulation or the exercise of 

 any of its functions. If this snail is 

 prevented from hibernating for several 

 seasons by keeping it in a warm room, 

 it will gradually waste away and die. 

 A case is known where several snails 

 of this genus were shut in a perforated 

 box without food or water. They re- 

 tired into their shells and closed them 

 with a thin membrane. They remained 

 so for three years, but revived when 

 put into torpid water. They had been 

 driven into torpidity by drought. The 

 blood of this animal is white. 



It may be of interest to state in con- 

 nection with these animals who pass 

 half the year, or less, in sleep, that 

 there are several species of fish, reptiles, 

 and insects which never sleep during 

 their stay in this world. Among fish 

 it is now positively known that pike, 

 salmon, and gold-fish never sleep at 

 all. Also that there are several others 

 of the fish family that never sleep more 

 than a few minutes during a month. 

 There are dozens of species of flies 

 which never indulge in slumber, and 

 from three to five species of serpents 

 which the naturalists have never been 

 able to catch napping. 



Apollo has peeped through the shutter, 



And awakened the witty and fair; 

 The boarding-school belle's in a flutter, 



The two-penny post's in despair. 

 The breath of the morning is flinging 



A magic on blossom and spra}'. 

 And cockneys and sparrows are singing 



In chorus on Valentine's day. 



85 



-Praed 



