TEE CEEIR 0 GALES. 
233 
GENUS CHEIRO GALE * 
There are many very small bushy-tailed and almost Rat or Squirrel-like Lemuroida in Mada~ 
gascar, which have a most curious habit. In England Hedgehogs, Dormice, and Bats — and in other 
countries the Marmot and other animals — hide up on the approach of winter, and go off to sleep for 
many a long day until warm weather returns, and food can be obtained ; and this is done also by 
many reptiles, and not a few insects. They take their winter’s sleep like the Water-rat — 
“And when cold winter conies, and the water-plants die, 
And his little brooks yield him no further supply, 
Down into his burrow he cozily creeps, 
And quietly through the long winter-time sleeps.” 
And in Madagascar, where the heat is always great, and there is a wet and dry season, food being 
always in great abundance, these little bushy-tailed things go off at a certain time into a nest of leaves, 
and doze away for weeks, whilst their fellows are scampering around them during the moonlight nights, 
and imitating them in their sleep whilst all nature glows in the tropical sun. In temperate climates 
where there is a "winter, this long sleep is called wintering, or hibernating, and in the hot climate it is 
called the summer sleep. 
Why some animals should do this and others not, why some should sleep long in winter, and 
others in summer, and why all should be most regular in their time of taking their nap, are questions 
well worthy of any one’s attention, and especially because they cannot be answered. Some of the hiber- 
nating animals awake for a little time now and then, and take food, but others get quieter and quieter, 
their breathing becomes slower and slower, their heart beats with diminished force and rapidity, and 
their temperature falls ; but, on the other hand, the irritability of the muscles, especially of those of 
the heart, increases ; and in these — for instance, in many of the Bats — the hibernation is not a common- 
place, long-continued slumber, but a necessary matter, and the awakened sleeper dies. 
Let us notice what takes place in the hibernators. They get into a place out of the light, and 
where the temperature is tolerably equable, and after having got nice and fat previously, they settle 
down in different positions, according to their shape, and go to sleep. They avoid too cold places, and 
get out of the range of the action of frost. Now taking no food, breathing very slowly, with very slow 
pulses, and indulging in no exercise, there is very little exhaustion going on. The quantity of fat 
stored up by the animal in its body generally consumes away, but very tardily, for the oxygen in the 
blood is at its lowest ebb, and the arterial blood resembles that of the dull purple veins. Under 
ordinary circumstances, if the whole of the blood is in this condition, the muscles of that side of the 
heart which propels the pure blood throughout the frame lose tlieir power of contraction, and death 
ensues. But in their hibernating condition their irritability is increased, and they pump the impure 
blood as well as they did the blight scarlet fluid of old. At last the fat is consumed, the animal gets 
thin, and by the time the spring comes it is ready for its new life. 
Now the little Cheirogales of Madagascar certainly do part of all these wonderful things. They 
get fat, and their tails attain a most dignified size ) then they retire for their summer sleep, grow 
thinner and thinner, and finally come forth with such miserable vestiges of tails, so thin and 
miserable-looking. Their time of quietude is during the hot and dry season, and is equivalent to 
our winter, and they fatten up during the months when the warm rain makes everything to grow in 
profusion. It must be noticed that although these Cheirogales greatly resemble the Lemurs already 
described, they have no special construction which necessitates this sleep. 
These Cheirogales resemble the Hapalemurs in shape, and may be known by their small size, their 
long tail, which is either conical or cylindrical, and by their face, wliich is scarcely narrower in front 
than behind. Having long ankle-bones, the back muscles of the leg have a great leverage over the 
foot, which enables the creature to make its easy jumps. Being nocturnal in their habits, they have 
very large eyes, and rounded and short, but sharp-sensed, external ears. They are vegetable feeders, 
yet most of them are extremely fond of something alive to eat, and, indeed, are greedy enough when 
* Xelp (hand), (Weasel). 
