Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-02-03
INCARNATION.
CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT THE WINTER
SLEEP OF ANIMALS.
Experiments Made Upon Dormant Crea-
tures-sffects OF Change Of Tenn
perature-Finny slespers.

blC iuSUtC - Aet4 avs IL
meath the sod, beetles, worms and slugs
have met in common sympathy. In the
pond the noisome frog, in compact ball,
awaits the call of spring, while under the
bark and roots of every tree and bush In.
sect forms have found their seasonable
home. In cherry stones. tightly coiled, is
found the homely sow-bug, its door, the
work Of some hungry squirrel, thatehed
and plastered from within. The old yew
log, that cheers some winter night, is
tunnelled with halls, passages and
wards, unsupported from without,
packed with sleeping anss, who, in the
vain hope that spring has come, surge ont
in bold array. The silvery globes with
perfect lids, that cling to autumn leaves,
bear amid their golden floss the eggs of
some garden spider. The bats, unable to
follow their feathered friends TO milder
climes, bereft of food, betake themselves
to sleep, and in some cave hang in clustered
groups until the approach or spring. The
long winter days are passed IN sleep so
deep that it might be aptly termed liv.
ing death, so complete is the respiratory
suspension. The most delicate experiments
made upon the dorm ant creatures often
fail to betrsy the slightest movement. The
wing extended shows the flowing blood,
but the index of the delicate instrument
records no answering beat. Even the sur
rounding air indicates no signs of inhala-
ton, yet the slightest noise brings back its
dormant life, and in single hour over
four cubic ounces of oxygen are consumed
THE BAT.
Late in the fall the bats disappear, group
ing in most fantastic shapes, single one
often bearing a score or more fellow-sleep
ers The temperature of the bat slowly
adapts itself to that. which surrounds it.
Their power of viii over their muscular
organization is completely lost, and the
amount of respiration Is inyersely as the
degree of irritability of the muscular fiber
Many of the vital functions enter upon q
state OF allegiance, and through the long
months the food supply comes from the
store of fat accumulated during the period
of Wakeiulness, the creature hanging q
willing victim to suspended animation.
The minute infusoria, whose world may
be q drop of dew, are affected SIM
ilarly as the water about them grows
colder, the rhythmical contractions OF
their coptrsctile vesieles grow less and
less. At l50 (Centigrade) we may count fl
teen pulsations, while when temperature
of s. above freezing is attained, they are
reduced to seven a minute, and at 2 all
motions cease. The delicate ella no longer
la7h the water, the animal being In win
ter sleep, from which it can be aroused by
gentle application of heat to the sur
rounding water. These and the higher
alternating animals ara not as rule iuvul-
nerable to the effects OF cold, though many
fishes and reptiles have been resuscitated
after complete freezing The effect OF an
extreme ia the higher animals is 10 awaken
them from the peculiar ply biological con-
dition in which they seem balanced in
the scale of life and death, the latter
then ensuing from freezing in natu.
raj way. The limitations of the diff.
ferent sleeps are, however, widely
at variance. While some are easily
awakened by falling temperature. the
zzel assumes rate exactly In accordance
with that without. In some experiments
made by an eminent nsturalists the tenn.
perature of the room in which the animal
was kept was slowly lowered until il
reached . (Centigrade) above zero, or
freezing, that of the animal corresponding,
showing that during Information the
warm. blooded zizel had become truly cold.
blooded. As excessive cold is not the i'm
mediate cause Of winter sleep, neither is q
rise of temperature Immediately produo
tive of wakefulness. In one experiment
with the animal it awoke in the same tenn
perature in which it had slept for many
previous days. Once having been aroused
by some yet unknown cause, the tempera
ture of the animal increased with extreme
rapidity.
THE SNAIL.
WHO has not watched in summer days
the glistening throng of snails upon the
banks of streams? From the bridge at
low tide the muddy fat scintillates and
CLEANS as if hecked with diamonds as the
shells move in close pursuit behind tht
outgoing tide, the march reversing as it
rises; a continual coursing back and forth
being carried on throughout the summer,
But the first cold wind causes percepti.
BILE diminution of their numbers, and frost
finds the vast population OF the shore fal
below the surface IN winter sleep. They Dc
not assimilate food-in other words, eat
digest, or grow-until the reanimat
ing temperature of l5' c., or there
about, comes again. The mollusks are
perhaps the most remarkable for the
| long continuance OF this condition
| fhe land snails during winter close theil
shells with calcareous plate Of epiphragm
having small orifice for breathing, and
buried in the earth, remain in qulescen
| state for periods of long duration. 1t is ii
this condition, or Immediately after the
formation of the white epiphragm, that thC
| edible snails about Paris are most esteemed
| In the British Museum are certain she'll
that were brought from Egypt and thought
! lessly gummed to a stand, and four year,
later were found alive by the curator
| They were not at all affected by their Ions
sleep, and lived for several years after
Their pulsation, that at the time of theil
capture was ITO, during Information wa
not distinguishable. Many of the fresh
water mussels retreat to the deep mud anC
sleep throughout the winter, and the sam
may be true Of saltwater forms.
| THE HEDGEHOG.
| The witch in Macbeth" according t
whom "Thrice and once the bedgepi
} whin'd," must have heard the little ami
mails when awakened from their sleep
this, some writers say, being the only tim
in hich the peculiar usterance is heard
while others, who have disturbed tn
sleeper, aver that its only response Is
sigh, the hedgehog Immediately relapsini
into somnolency that is, perhaps. the mos
[ perfect Information known among quad
rupeds many of its congeners laying u
winter stores, while the hedgehog de
ponds entirely upon the suspension
Of its faculties. This has been doubted
as apples have been found in the win
ter burrow, but their presence there ma,
be explained in another way. In the fal
the spinous little creatures, warned by Ia
cooler nights, bethink themselves OF tn
winter and prepare their habitation for it
/ This may be under the roots of some ageC
| tree, or in hollow of the same, or even IL
the burrow of some luckless rabbit, int
which bits of hay, grass, or soft leaves ar
carried. Perhaps upon the last tour tn
hedgehog essays stone wall to ascend i
a comparatively easy matter, but the de
scent would seem more difficult feat. Tn