The common mud wasp that builds in old garrets fills his nest with a species of spider much relished by the young wasp and exhibits much judgment in supplying exactly the right number to provide for the growing wasp until he is able to sally forth and seize prey for himself. These spiders—often seventeen or eighteen of them—are stupefied in the same manner as in the case of the potter wasp, and are living when the young wasp begins his repast. This habit is peculiar to many species of wasp and is, I think, worthy of careful study. I wish I had space to tell of the almost fiendish ingenuity that certain parasites show in maintaining themselves at the expense of their hosts.
The ground hog has a knack of spending his winter in a way that is at once economical and pleasant. They generally hibernate in pairs, rolling themselves up into balls. They do not seem to breathe or to perform any of the life functions during their long six months’ sleep. There is, I fear, no foundation of fact for the ancient fiction of the ground hog appearing and making weather prognostications on the second of February. A gentleman writing in the New York Sun of some years since says: “I took the trouble once to dig into a woodchuck’s burrow on Candlemas day, and a warm, cloudy day it was; just such a day when the ground hog is said to come out of his hole and stay out. I found two woodchucks in the burrow, with no more signs of life about them than if they had been shot and killed. From all outward appearances I could have taken them out and had a game of football with them without their knowing it.”
Nor is it true that hibernating animals live upon their accumulated fat, for digestion, as well as other active life processes, ceases. Hibernating animals always begin their long sleep upon an empty stomach, and food injected into their stomach is not digested. The fat disappears, it is true, but it is not in any strict sense digested. Any experienced hunter is aware that unless the entrails are removed from the shot rabbit the fat will disappear from about the kidneys. The fat may, and no doubt does, assist in some way in the long sleep. It may act as fuel to keep up the right living temperature. At any rate, it is true that hibernating animals eat voraciously and grow very fat just before they go to sleep. It is a peculiar fact that many hibernating animals bring forth their young during this period. This is especially true of woodchucks and bears. It is a common experience with hunters that only male bears are killed during the winter season.