HYBERNATION OF INSECTS. 4.53 
that he had found caterpillars so frozen, that when drop- 
ped into a glass they chinked like stones, which neverthe- 
less revived?, Reaumur, indeed, repeated this experi- 
ment without success ; and found that when the larvee of 
Bombyx Pityocampa, F. were frozen into ice by a cold 
of 15° R. below zero (2° F. below zero), they could not 
be made to revive’. But other trials have fully confirm- 
ed Lister’s observations. My friend Mr. Stickney, be- 
fore mentioned as the author of a valuable Essay on the 
Grub (larva of Tipula oleracea)—to ascertain the effect of 
cold in destroying this insect, exposed some of them to a. 
severe frost, which congealed them into perfect masses 
of ice. When broken, their whole interior was found 
to be frozen. Yet several of these resumed their active 
powers. Bonnet had precisely the same result with the 
pupee of Papilio Brassica, which, by exposing to a frost 
of 14° R. below zero (0° F.), became lumps of ice, and 
yet produced butterflies‘. Indeed, the circumstance 
that animals of a much more complex organization than 
insects, namely, serpents and fishes, have been known to 
revive after being frozen, is sufficient to dispel any doubts 
on this head. John Hunter, though himself unsuccess- 
ful in his attempts to reanimate carp and other animals 
that-had been frozen, confesses that the fact itself is so 
well authenticated as to admit of no question‘. 
On what principle a faculty so extraordinary and so 
contrary to our common conceptions of the nature of 
animal life depends, I shall not attempt to explain. Nor 
can any thing very satisfactory be advanced with regard 
a Lister, Goedart. de Insectis, 76. b Reaum. ii. 142, 
¢ (Buvres, vi. 12. 4 Observations on the Animal Economy, 99. 
