$Z STUDIES OF NATURE. 



" In the eaftern part," fays an intelligent Swede» 

 " of the lofty mountains which feparate Sweden 

 " from Norway, expofed to the utmoft rigor of the 

 " cold, there is a very thick foreft, and fingular in 

 " this refpeët, that the pine which grows there is 

 " rendered black, by a fpecies of filamentous li- 

 " chen, which hangs upon it in great abundance ; 

 u whereas the ground is covered every where 

 " around with a white lichen, which, in luftre, 

 * c rivals the mow."* 



Nature there beftows the fame colour on mod 

 animals, fuch as the white-bear, the wolf, the par- 

 tridge, the hare, the ermine ; others perceptibly 

 -whiten to a certain degree in Winter, fuch as foxes 

 and fquirrels, which are reddifh in Summer, and 

 light gray in Winter. Nay, if we confider the 

 filiform figure of their hair, it's varnifh and tran- 

 fparency, we ihall be fenfible that it is contrived 

 in the moft proper manner for reflecting and re- 

 fracting the rays of light. We ought not to ima- 

 gine this whitenefs as a degeneration, or enfeebling 

 of the animal, as Naturalifts have done with re- 

 fpect to the human hair, which whitens in old- 



* Extract from the Natural Hiftory of the rein-deer, by 

 Charles- Frederick Hoffberg, tranflated by M. le Chevalier de 

 Keralio. 



age, 



