294 MAMMALIA 



confinement, it seemed, upon the whole, pretty well reconciled to it. 

 It continued active, and both ate and drank ahundantl)-. I fed it 

 upon bread, the grain of Indian corn (Zea Mays), and the ])erries 

 of the Prinos verticillatus, sometimes called ])lack-alder. 



** On or about the 22d of November, it passed into the torpid 

 state. It is curious to observe, that at the tinie it became torpid, 

 the weather was unusually niild for the season of the year, and 

 moreover the animal was kept in a warm room, in which tlK;re was 

 a laree fire the greater i)art of the day and nioht. I sometimes 

 roused it from its torpid state ; at other times it came spontaneously 

 out of it. During the intervals of its waking, it both ate and 

 drank. It was frequently most active, while the weather was ex- 

 tremely cold in December; but when I placed the; jar upon a thick 

 cake of ice, in the open air, its movements or activity seemed 

 wholly directed to the making of a comfortable habitation out of 

 the hay with which I supplied it. It was sufficiently evident, how- 

 evei", that the cold was not the only cause; of its tor[)id state. It 

 was finally killed by the application of too great a degree of heat 

 to it, whilst in its torpor. 



" During its torpor, it commonh' laid with its head between its 

 hind legs, with the claws or feet of these closely applied to the 

 head. Its respiration could always be perceived, but was very 

 slow. 



"The fact of the torpidity of this little animal is known to the 

 gardeners and others near the city. They call it the ' seven 

 sleepers,' and assert, that it is frequently found in the earth, at 

 the lower extremity of the horse-radish, and other perpendicular 

 roots. Does it use these as a measure of the distance to which it 

 shall iro in the earth, to avoid the influence of the frost? 



" I have said, that the Dipus Americanus beconies torpid in the 

 neighborhood of this city. But this, I believe, is not always the 

 case. During the winter-season, this little animal and another 

 species, which I call Dipus mellivorus, take possession of the 



