They do not go into hiding at one and the
same season; but the snails go in winter, the purple murex and the
ceryx for about thirty days at the rising of the Dog-star, and the
scallop at about the same period. But for the most part they go into
concealment when the weather is either extremely cold or extremely
hot.
14
Insects almost all go into hiding, with the exception of such of
them as live in human habitations or perish before the completion of
the year. They hide in the winter; some of them for several days,
others for only the coldest days, as the bee. For the bee also goes
into hiding: and the proof that it does so is that during a certain
period bees never touch the food set before them, and if a bee
creeps out of the hive, it is quite transparent, with nothing
whatsoever in its stomach; and the period of its rest and hiding lasts
from the setting of the Pleiads until springtime.
Animals take their winter-sleep or summer-sleep by concealing
themselves in warm places, or in places where they have been used to
lie concealed.
15
Several blooded animals take this sleep, such as the pholidotes or
tessellates, namely, the serpent, the lizard, the gecko, and the
river.
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