tain black snake {Coluber Alleghaniensis) nearly seven feefc 

 long, which is inverted as neatly as a glove finger could be,, 

 and without a tear in it ; also, an inverted skin of the com- 

 mon black snake, (Bascanion constrictor). I have a skin 

 shed in November by a rattlesnake (Candisona horrida), 

 afterwards a pet of mine, which remains in its natural po- 

 sition. I did not see the operation of moulting, and it is 

 barely possible that the skin may have been turned while 

 fresh and soft, but I do not believe that it was ever com- 

 pletely inverted. I should state that the snake was not in 

 captivity when he shed this skin, but was taken just after 

 the act of moulting. 



"Will snakes freeze and tlien thaw outV 

 Spallanzani kept snakes, frogs, and salamanders in a 

 state of torpor in an ice house for three years and a half, 

 and then easily restored them to activity. In our climate 

 snakes retire at the approach of cold weather into their 

 winter retreats in old burrows, hollow trees, or stone heaps, 

 and there they remain, hibernating, until they are revivi- 

 fied by the warm rays of the spring sun. It would seem 

 as if they would often be exposed to a freezing tempera- 

 ture. I have found the common toad, in the early spring 

 thaws, nibernating in the soil a foot or two below the sur- 

 face, where it must have been surrounded throughout the 

 winter by solid walls of frozen earth. A pet black snake, 

 confined in a well ventilated, un warmed room, endured 

 weather when the mercury stood at zero in the open air, 

 but succumbed at twenty degrees below. I attribute his 

 death by freezing to the fact that he was not in a state of 

 complete hibernation, as he had frequently been handled 

 during the early winter, and thus partially aroused from 

 his stupor. A very interesting series of experiments could 

 be made upon the hibernation of reptiles. 



' ''How is the water adder constituted that he can remain under 

 waterV 



Cold blooded animals, such as serpents, consume little 

 food, and, even when in activity, little oxygen, in this re 

 spect forming a marked contrast with highly vitalized, 

 warm blooded animals. Birds, for instance, in their ner- 

 vous, restless activity, require incredibly large supplies of 

 food and a miniature blast furnace of oxygen to supply the 

 incessant waste of their tissues. Serpents, on the contrary, 

 pass the greater part of their lives in a state of sluggish 

 repose, much like that of the higher animals in hiberna- 

 tion. Hibernating mammals can be kept under water for 

 an hour at a time without harm, though three or four min- 

 utes would be sufficient to kill them if they were in their 

 natural state of activity. The. nearly complete suspension 

 of all the functions of life reduces the demand for air, as 



