48 PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



nearly an inch in thickness, perfectly smooth within, and 

 about twenty inches under ground. The man who first 

 discovered it, not knowing what it was^ struck the ball: 

 with his spade, by which means it was broken to pieces, or 

 the ball also would have been presented to rac *." 



Much stress has been laid upon the position which these 

 animals assume, previous to their becoming torpid, on the 

 supposition that it contributes materially to produce the le- 

 thargy. In describing this position, Mr Carlisle ob- 

 serves, " that this tribe of quadrupeds have the habit of 

 rolling up their bodies into the form of a ball during ordi- 

 nary sleep, and they invariably assume the same attitude 

 when in the torpid state : the limbs are all folded into the 

 liollow made by the bending of the body ; the clavicles, or 

 first ribs, and the sternum are pressed against the fore part 

 of the neck, so as to interrupt the flow of blood which sup- 

 plies the head, and to compress the trachea : the abdominal 

 viscera and the hinder limbs are pushed against the dia- 

 phragm, so as to interrupt its motions, and to impede the 

 flow of blood, through the large vessels which penetrate it,^ 

 and the longitudinal extension of the cavity of the thorax 

 is entirely obstructed. Thus a confined circulation is car- 

 ried on through the heart, probably adapted to the last 

 weak actions of life, and to its gradual recommencement -j-.*" 

 But as none of these effects are supposed to be produced by 

 the same position during ordinary sleep, their existence can- 

 not be admitted in the case of toi-pidity. Professor Mangili 

 of Pavia;]:, with greater simplicity of language, says, that the 

 marmot rolls itself up like a ball, having the nose applied con- 

 trary to the anus, with the teeth and eyes closed. He also in- 



• Linn. Trans,, vol. iv. p. 156. f Phil. Trans^ 1795, p, 17, 



i Annates du Museum., torn, ix. 



