1054 General Notes. (October, 
HIBERNATION OF THE GRAY GROUND SQutrRREL.—On January 
18, last, I was fortunate enough to have brought to me, bya 
farmer residing near here, a gray ground squirrel, Spermophilus 
franklini in the hibernating state. 
The squirrel, or gopher, was rolled up ina perfect ball, his head 
resting forward of the root of his tail,and the tail curled carefully 
up on the body of the ball. The gentleman also brought with 
him about one-half of the nest in which the gopher was found, the 
gopher still resting in it. The nest was made of common low- 
land grass (cured), and was merely a nicely collected ball of hay 
without any sign of a place of entrance, but had instead every 
appearance as though some brother gopher had built the nest 
around the body of the hibernator. This ball of hay or nest, was 
about twelve or fourteen inches in diameter, and was found by the 
farmer and some workmen in a hay stack on his farm. The nest 
was in the center of the stack, which was large, and had stood in 
the field two years. No other nest was found. When paa, 
man who was pitching hay from the stack, came to this ball 
hay, he kicked it to one side, but the farmer considering it @ 
strange discovery to find frozen hay in the center of such a larg 
stack, though water run down into it, carried it home "ne 
nation, and in turn was so well pleased with the diana m i 
sleeping marmot, that in his enthusiasm he brought the ani : 
me the next day; forgetting, by the way, to consider that a change 
> of temperature might kill it, as he kept the animal ex to 
very cold freezing weather we had at that time, during th 
and until noon the next day, the time of delivery to me. 
observation no one could deny that life existed, and that ein 
g to test the 
various degrees of bodily heat-temperature as spring gf weight 
ture as I supposed the haystack to have been, I plac h 
I thought I could come the nearest to it; but in whic 
must have failed, for upon examination after ten days ose from 
j had 
position I had several times noticed during the ten wa lid 
had it, his feet were withdrawn from their sy -a the 
position upon each side of the center of the junction ° i pads? 
and the hinder parts of the body, which the tail previous vie 
perfectly covered; the body was now limp, and. thet outh and 
dence of a hemorrhage, having come through the ™ 
