296 MAMMALIA. 



show, how the animal is laid cliirino- its dormant state. How lonir 

 it had been under ground, it is impossible to sa)' ; but as I never 

 could observe these animals in any j^art of the countr\- after the 

 beginning of September, I conceive the)- la\- tlu;mselves up some 

 time in that month, or beofinnino- of October, when the frost be- 

 comes sharp ; nor did I ever see them again before the last week 

 in May, or beginning of June. From their being enveloped in 

 balls of clay, without any appearance of food, I conceive they sleep 

 during the Winter, and remain for that term without sustenance."- 



In the third volume of Griffith's Cu\ier. published in 1827, it is 

 stated: "One single species, the Gerbillns of Canada, has been 

 found in a state of hibernation" (p. 154). And again : " In the 

 winter it retires and falls asleep, rolled up like a ball, in a burrow 

 about twent}' inches deep. It places itself then In a sort of little 

 chamber, of an oval form, and never stirs until the middle of spring. 

 No provision is found in this retreat, nor is it exactl)' known on 

 what substances it feeds" (p. 159). 



Godman says : " At the commencement of c(K)1 wc^ather, or about 

 the time the frost sets in, the jumping mice go into their winter 

 quarters, where they remain in a torpid state until the last of May 

 or first of June."* Zadock Thompson also tells us that "they 

 pass the winter in a torpid state and are not usually out in the 

 spring before June." f 



Is it not surprising, in the face of the evidence above narrated, J 

 that Audubon and Bachman should have tjiven utterance to the 

 following : " It is generally believed, that the Jumping Mouse, like 

 the Hampster of Europe, {CriccttLs vulgaris), and the Marmots, 

 (^Arctomys), hibernates, and passes the winter in a profound lethar- 



* American Natural History, Vol. I, 1S42, p. 322. 



f Natural and Civil History of Vermont, 1842, \>. 44. 



\ The statement in OrifTith's Cuvier was unquestionably based upon General Davics' article, and 

 it is probable that both Godman and Thompson derived their information from the same source. 

 But even in this case there remain the two original, independent, and almost simultaneous accounts 

 (those of Barton and Davies), the trustworthiness of which cannot be called in (juestion. 



