MAMMALIA. 
198 
show, how the animal is laid during its dormant state. How long 
it had been under ground, it is impossible to say; but' as I never 
could observe these animals in any part of the country after the 
beginning of September, I conceive they lay themselves up some 
time in that month, or beginning 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 Cuvier, published in 1827, it is 
stated : “ One single species, the Gerbillus 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 twenty 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 exactly known on 
what substances it feeds” (p. 159). 
Godman says : “ At the commencement of cool weather, 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 given utterance to the 
following : “ It is generally believed, that the Jumping Mouse, like 
the Hampster of Europe, ( Cmcetus vulgaris), and the Marmots, 
(. Arctomys ), hibernates, and passes the winter in a profound lethar- 
* American Natural History, Vol. I, 1842, p. 322. 
f Natural and Civil History of Vermont, 1842, p. 44. 
t The statement in Griffith’s Cuvier was unquestionably based upon General Davies’ 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 question. 
