364 Hybernation. 



About the year 1756, some mining operations were commenced 

 and carried on to a small extent, in Meriden, on a farm then be- 

 longing to Mr. Hough. The miners began their excavation at the 

 foot of a high ridge formed by a ledge of rocks, rising fifty or sixty 

 feet above the level of the land in its vicinity, and covered with a 

 superstratum of earth two or three feet in depth. The miners, dis- 

 appointed in their expectations as to the products of the ore, dis- 

 continued their labors within a few months after their commencement, 

 leaving an aperture, at the place where they began digging, of about 

 six feet in breadth and the same in depth. In this situation, the ex- 

 cavation, including the aperture, continued, according to the recollec- 

 tion of Mr. Hough, from whom this information is derived, till March, 

 1760 or 1761, when, by the agency of a thaw, attended by a copi- 

 ous, warm rain, an extensive avalanche of earth and loose stones 

 shot down from the brow of the ridge, which completely filled and 

 choked up the aperture. For about thirty years from this period, 

 every thing about the mine had continued apparently in statu quo. 



Having some business at the house of Mr. Hough, about the mid- 

 dle of January, 1791, I there met Capt. J. Shaylor, of Meriden, a 

 gentleman with whom I was intimately acquainted. He informed 

 me that two or three days previously to that time, curiosity had led 

 him to explore the old mine ; — that knowing it had been closed for 

 many years by earth, &c. he furnished himself with an iron crow 

 and other implements suitable for the purpose, and after half a day's 

 labor in removing earth and stones to the depth of five or six feet, he 

 had succeeded in making an entrance into the cavern left by the 

 miners ; and invited me, without giving any description of it, to go 

 with him and take a view of it. I readily complied. Upon our en- 

 trance we lighted candles. The length of the room we found to be 

 about fifty feet, the breadth varying from eleven to fifteen, and the 

 height from seven to nine ; the lateral walls and ceiling of solid rock. 



Hybernation of the Bat — {T^espertilio.) 



My attention was attracted, principally, by the many hundreds of 

 bats which we found suspended from the ceiling with their heads 

 downward. No part of them was in contact with the rock except 

 the soles of their hind feet, which appeared as if glued to the sur- 

 face of the rock. No others were found either upon the mural rocks 

 nor in any other part of the cavern. They were all covered with a 

 sort of white mould, appearing like frost. Far from being emaciated, 



