ORDER RODENTIA. 119 



fc'Iie air ; this torpor ceases with the cold ; a few degrees 

 of heat above 10 or 11° will reanimate them, and if they 

 are kept during winter in a warm room, they will continue 

 active the whole season ; they will then move about, eat, 

 drink, and sleep at the usual intervals, like other animals. 

 When the cold approaches, they roll themselves into a ball, 

 and in this state may be found in winter in hollow trees, or 

 clefts of rocks, or in holes in walls exposed to the south ; 

 they may be taken and rolled about without rousing them ; 

 nothing, indeed, seems to wake them from their lethargy 

 but gradual heat ; if exposed suddenly before a fire they 

 die ; resuscitation can only be effected by degrees. In this 

 state, however, although deprived of the capability of move- 

 ment, with the eyes closed, and in an apparent state of 

 death-like indifference, they possess a feeling of pain when 

 sharply inflicted ; a wound or a burn causes them to con- 

 tract, and to make a slight sort of convulsive leap which 

 they will repeat several times. 



It sometimes happens that the Loir wakes in the winter 

 season, when the thermometer rises to 12, 13, or 14° ; the 

 animal on such occasions will quit its retreat, and eat some 

 part of the store of provision reserved for its early resusci- 

 tation. 



A. M. Mangili, of Pavia, has published his observations 

 on the periodical lethargy of this species in particular, 

 among other lethargic quadrupeds ; those observations were 

 begun in the month of December, and continued till the 

 April following. On the 24th December, the temperature 

 fell to 4° below zero, when a Fat Dormouse confined in the 

 observer's library fell into its hybernating or torpid condi- 

 tion, after retiring to a bed, of slips of paper, placed among 

 the books for it, together with some provisions. On the 

 27th December, its left side having been exposed, the ther- 

 mometer placed near it marked 3° and an half ; respiration 

 was suspended, and renewed at certain intervals ;■ after four 



