91 
and are probably torpid. Many fish must be in the 
same condition; for worms and insects, their sole 
food, are not to be obtained. Some fresh-water fish 
probably bury themselves in mud: some migrate to 
the depths of the sea at the approach of winter. 
“ That snakes and fishes °, after being frozen have 
still retained so much of life, as, when thawed, to 
resume their vital functions, is a fact, says Mr. Hun- 
ter, so well attested, that we are bound to believe it.” 
“ Yet,” says the writer? in the Encyclopedia Bri- 
tannica, “‘ how came it to pass that the fishes which 
were frozen by this truly ingenious physiologist 
never recovered ?” He, however, suggests the pro- 
bable reply, that the fish selected were either not 
the fittest, or not in a proper condition for the ex- 
periment. 
Cuvier observes, (or his translator Griffith,) tor- 
toises remain lethargized during the winter; but 
this lethargy is merely a diminution of the vital 
force, not a suspension of certain faculties, as in the 
hybernating mammalia.” 
“The common tortoise, about the end of Geet 
buries itself about two feet under ground, and does 
not emerge till April. We are told that it hyber- 
nates in this manner even in Barbary, without being 
determined to this state of torpor by the cold.” 
In cold and temperate climates, snakes, and the 
batrachia and lizards, hybernate. The pike-muzzled 
° « Eels approach the serpent race in external form in their 
motion and their hybernation.”” Stewart's Elements, &c. 
P Art. Physiology. 
