NATURAL HISTORY. x 



country which presents an unvaried white surface, they must have extreme difficulty 

 surprising- their prey, and be much more exposed to the persecutions of its enemies. 

 It is somewhat larger in its measurements than the white variety. 



Male. 

 Length from snout to insertion of the tail . 23.7 inches 

 to end of vertebrcE of the tail . . 36.2 

 of the head measured with callipers 5.7 



7.— ARVICOLA HUDSONIA {Hudson's Ba^ Lemming). 



Lemmus Hudsonius. — Ctiv: Reg. Anini. — vol. i., p. 207. 

 Aevicola HuDSONiA. — Rich: Faun. Dor. Amer. — p. 132. 



Rich : App. to Parry's 2d Foj/.— p. 308. 



The smallest of the quadrupeds of the Polar Regions, and has been found iiT 

 the highest latitude tliat has yet been attained : even on the ice of the Polar Ocean, to 

 the northward of the 82° of latitude, the skeleton of one was found.* 



It has never been met with far in the interior of the country, preferring to congregate 

 during the summer months along the sea-shores, where amongst large loose stones tliey 

 rear their young, and find shelter from their numerous enemies. In the winter season, 

 each individual makes a nest of dried grass, on the surface of the earth, beneath the 

 snow, and has many passages in different directions from its nest, along which it 

 passes in search of food. It seldom appears during the winter, but its tracks are occa- 

 sionally to be met with even in the coldest weather; but from the whiteness of its fui-, 

 and the rapidity with which it burrows beneath the surface of the snow, it is seldom 

 taken at that season of the year. 



It feeds chiefly on the roots of Polygonum Viviparum, on grasses, vetches, and 

 during the summer on almost every kind of plant the country produces; but is never- 

 theless fond of animal food, even to devouring its own species; and the salmon Iioaid> 

 of the Esquimaux frequently furnish provision to numbers of these animals during tli< 

 winter. 



* See Appendix to Parry's Polar Journey, p. 1-90. 



