THE RAT KIND. 



369 



of government with great success. Although 

 they are usually found brown on the back 

 and white on the belly, yet many of them are 

 observed to be gray, which may probably 

 arise from the difference of age. 



THE LEMING. 



HAVING considered various kinds of these 

 noxious little animals that elude the indigna- 

 tion of mankind, and subsist by their number, 

 not their strength, we come to a species more 

 bold, more dangerous, and more numerous 

 than any of the former. The leming, which 

 is a native of Scandinavia, is often seen to 

 pour down in myriads from the northern 

 mountains, and, like a pestilence, destroys all 

 the productions of the earth. It is described 

 as being larger than a dormouse, with a bushy 

 tail, though shorter. It is covered with thin 

 hair of various colours. The extremity of the 

 upper part of the head is black, as are like- 

 wise the neck and shoulders, but the rest of 

 the body is reddish, intermixed with small 

 black spots of various figures, as far as the 

 tail, which is not above half an inch long. 

 The eyes are little and black, the ears round 

 and inclining towards the back, the legs 

 before are short, and those behind longer, 

 which gives it a great degree of swiftness. 

 But what it is much more remarkable for 

 than its figure are, its amazing fecundity and 

 extraordinary migrations. 



In wet seasons, all of the rat kind are 

 known to propagate more than in dry ; but 

 this species in particular is so assisted in 

 multiplying by the moisture of the weather, 

 that the inhabitants of Lapland sincerely be- 

 lieve that they drop from the clouds, and that 

 the same magazines that furnish hail and 

 snow pour the leming also upon them. In 

 fact, after long rain, these animals set forward 

 from their native mountains, and several 

 millions in a troop deluge the whole plain 

 with their numbers." They move, for the 

 most part, in a square, marching forward by 

 night, and lying still by day. Thus, like an 

 animated torrent, they are often een more 

 than a mile broad covering * v 6 round, and 



Phil. Trans, vol ii. p. 872. 



that so thick that the hindmost touches its 

 leader. It is in vain that the poor inhabitant 

 resists or attempts to stop their progress, they 

 still keep moving forward, and though thou- 

 sands are destroyed, myriads are seen to suc- 

 ceed and make their destruction impracti- 

 cable. They generally move in lines, which 

 are about three feet from each other, and ex- 

 actly parallel. Their march is always direct- 

 ed from the north-west to the south-east, and 

 regularly conducted from the beginning. 

 Wherever their motions are turned, nothing 

 can stop them; they go directly forward, 

 impelled by some strange power ; and, from 

 the time they first set out, they never once 

 think of retreating. If a lake or a river hap- 

 pens to interrupt their progress, they all to- 

 gether take the water and swim over it; a fire, 

 a deep well, or a torrent, does not turn them 

 out of their straight-lined direction; they 

 boldly plunge into the flames, or leap down 

 the well, and are sometimes seen climbing up 

 on the other side. If they are interrupted by 

 a boat across a river while they are swimming, 

 they never attempt to swim round it, but 

 mount directly up its sides ; and the boatmen, 

 who know how vain resistance in such a case 

 would be, calmly suffer the living torrent to 

 pass over, which it does without further dam- 

 age. If they meet with a stack of hay or corn 

 that interrupts their passage, instead of going 

 over it, they gnaw their way through ; if they 

 are stopped by a house in their course, if 

 they cannot go through it, they continue there 

 till they die. It is happy, however, for man- 

 kind that they eat nothing that is prepared for 

 human subsistence; they never enter a house 

 to destroy the provisions, but are contented 

 with eating every root and vegetable that 

 they meet. If they happen to pass through a 

 meadow, they destroy it in a very short time, 

 and give it an appearance of being burnt up 

 and strewed with ashes. If they are inter- 

 rupted in their course, and a man should im- 

 prudently venture to attack one of them, the 

 little animal is no way intimidated by the 

 disparity of strength, but furiously flies up at 

 its opponent, and, barking somewhat like a 

 puppy, wherever it fastens does not easily 

 quit the hold. If at last the leader be forced 

 out of its line, which it defends as long as it 

 can, and be separated from the rest of its 



