RUSSIAN DESMAN. 4?9 



on extent of more than twenty feet. They live, how- 

 ever, only in that part of the burrow which is under 

 water. During winter it seems that they do not become 

 torpid, — a circumstance which is said to expose them to 

 inevitable and serious evil. The ice, which in their 

 native country lasts for so long a period, imprisons them 

 under w^ater, and it would appear that they then endure 

 a state of the most cruel torment ; for, if there are any 

 fissures or holes through which they can respire, they 

 run thither to thrust out their proboscis ; but should 

 they fail in this, they can only exist on the small quan- 

 tity of air contained within their burrow. A trifling 

 number thus survive; but the others perish by suffo- 

 cation. Their attempts to release themselves, which we 

 have just noticed, are more numerous in proportion to 

 the duration of the cold season. 



The foregoing account we met with in Mr. Griffiths' 

 ingenious compilation, without any allusion to the au- 

 thority from which it is derived. It may be generally 

 correct ; but nature, or rather a merciful Providence, 

 has never made " cruel torment" to be the condition of 

 existence to any one of its creatures. That many in- 

 dividuals may suffer in the manner and from the causes 

 described, during winters of uncommon severity, is very 

 possible ; but that by far the greater part survive, is more 

 than probable. Their burrows are stated to spread over 

 a very wide surface; and it is clear that those parts which 

 the animal does not inhabit, are appropriated to lay in 

 stores of food for the winter. So far, then, we see only 

 the same benevolent gift of instinct, and the same powers 

 granted for resisting the effects of winter, as is so ge- 

 nerally given to the mouse family : the air, and the 

 food, contained in their dwellings, we should consider 

 quite sufficient for the ordinary wants of nature ; and so 

 far from the desmans being condemned to " cruel tor- 

 ments," we should rather fancy they would be very 

 warmly and comfortably housed in their winter quarters. 



