  We report on magnetic susceptibility and specific heat measurements of the
cubic helimagnet FeGe in external magnetic fields and temperatures near the
onset of long-range magnetic order at T_C=278.2(3)K. Pronounced anomalies in
the field-dependent chi_ac(H) data as well as in the corresponding imaginary
part chi"_ac(H) reveal a precursor region around T_C in the magnetic phase
diagram. The occurrence of a maximum at T_0=279.6K in the zero-field specific
heat data indicates a second order transition into a magnetically ordered
state. A shoulder evolves above this maximum as a magnetic field is applied.
The field dependence of both features coincides with crossover lines from the
field-polarized to the paramagnetic state deduced from chi_ac(T) at constant
magnetic fields. The experimental findings are analyzed within the standard
Dzyaloshinskii theory for cubic helimagnets. The remarkable multiplicity of
modulated precursor states and the complexity of the magnetic phase diagram
near the magnetic ordering are explained by the change of the character of
solitonic inter-core interactions and the onset of specific confined chiral
modulations in this area.
