1792. on the Lapland marmot. 83 
‘mostly in the night. They rest during the day, and 
devour every root and vegetable they can meet with. 
They infect the very herbage ; and cattle are said to 
perith, that feed upon the grafs they have touched. 
' An enemy so numerous and so destructive, would 
soon render the country they pafs through utterly 
uninhabitable, did it not fortunately happen, that the 
same rapacity that excites them to lay waste the pro- 
‘ductions of the earth, at last impels them to destroy 
one another. Having nothing more to subsist on, 
they are said to separate into two armies, which en- 
gage with the most deadly hatred, and continue fight- 
ing and devouring each other till they are all entirely 
destroyed. Thousands of them have been found 
dead ; and the air, infected by their putrid carcases, 
has sometimes been the occasion of malignant dis- 
tempers. Great numbers of them are likewise de- 
stroyed by foxes, lynxes, weasels, and other beasts 
of prey, which follow them during their march. 
The leming is somewhat lefs than the rat ; its 
head is pointed; and in each jaw ate two very long 
cutting teeth, with which it bites keenly; its ears 
are fhort, eyes small, legs slender, and those before 
fhorter than the hind; the colour of the head, black 
and tawny, disposed in irregular patches ; the belly, 
white, tinged with yellow; it runs very swiftly.— 
Fortunately none of them have ever heen seen in 
Britain; and as it never becomes. an intimate with 
man, like the rat, our insular situation will prevent 
us from ever experiencing the scourge of this dimi- 
‘nutive ravager. 
. Though perfectly disgusting to other people, its 
flefh is said to be eaten by the Laplanders. Probably 
* 
