22 A. L. V. Manniche. 



torqvatus.) In the after-summer — August and September 1906 — 

 I found everywhere on my wanderings unmistakable signs of the 

 presence of innumerable lemmings, just as I had the opportunity of 

 seeing every day numerous representatives of the animal forms, to 

 which the lemming is as it were a condition of life, viz: the arctic 

 fox, the ermine, the snowy owl, the gyrfalcon, the raven and the 

 skua {Lestris longicaiida.) The numerous examinations of the sto- 

 machs of such lemming hunters which were undertaken, proved 

 moreover that the chase had been extremely rich, and that the 

 animals in question had been living almost exclusively on lemmings. 

 In this connexion I may mention that the partakers of the expedi- 

 tion almost daily caught or saw lemmings, which also appeared in 

 great numbers at the excavations which were undertaken of old 

 Eskimo dwelling places. 



If it was thus a fact that the country was richly populated 

 with lemmings during the expedition's first sojourn here, the nega- 

 tive results which my continual investigations about the species 

 brought me in the coming year, might convey the idea of abnormal 

 climatic conditions being the cause of the phenomenon. 



In April and May 1907 I always had my attention directed to 

 the lemming during my daily excursions. I often visited the places, 

 of which I knew with certainty that formerly they had harboured 

 an especially great number of individuals, but only in exceptional 

 cases I found a single lemming trace on the snow. Gradually as 

 the latter evaporated or melted away, by which means large, hi- 

 therto not examined distances were bared, I certainly found plenty 

 of lemming holes, but at closer inspection they all showed distinctly 

 enough that they had been uninhabited for a long time. Without 

 entering into the biology of the lemming on this occasion, I must 

 still indicate that the animal by no means leads a passive existence, 

 hybernating or living on a saved-up winter store, but is astir all 

 the year round in search of food. In the winter, when the snow 

 lies deep and comparatively smooth, the lemming resorts by pre- 

 ference to the surface of the ground, along which it makes its way 

 in all directions to the plants which constitute its food. The thick, 

 isolating layer of snow renders the animal the necessary protection 

 against the cold. (See: more about this under the article Myodes 

 torqvatus.) A winter, the first months of which bring a small 

 amount of downpour and frequent storms which immediately lash 

 away the snow from disproportionately large areas, in connexion 

 with extremely low temperature, must thus prove fatal to the lemming ^ 



' See: the table about downpour and temperature. 



