LEMMING. W 



inches long. The hair is fine, and variously spotted in 

 different animals ; the eyes are small and black, and the 

 ears recline backwards. 



The lemming, called also the Lapland marmot, pours 

 down periodically from the Scandinavian mountains ; and, 

 like a conflagration, consumes every production of the 

 earth that falls in its way. In these migrations, which 

 generally take place after long-continued rains, they ge- 

 nerally move in regular bodies, several millions in a troop ; 

 advancing by night, and halting by day. Such astonish- 

 ing numbers are collected, that they frequently cover a 

 mile square ; and the simple Laplanders are impressed 

 with the belief that they are really rained from the sky. 

 In vain do the wretched inhabitants resist them, or attempt 

 to check their progress : like an overflowing torrent, they 

 carry all before them. Wherever their motions are 

 directed, nothing can impede them: they swim across 

 rivers and lakes, and climb over houses, rather than 

 deviate from the regular line of the march ; and, in their 

 progress, devour every species of vegetable with which 

 they meet, leaving a wilderness and desolation behind 

 them. 



Enemies so numerous and destructive would soon depo- 

 pulate the country that produced them, did not the same 

 voracity which prompts them to destroy the labours of 

 industry at last impel them to prey upon each other. After 

 committing incredible devastations, they sometimes divide 

 into two armies, and fight with deadly fury. What be- 

 comes of the victors or the vanquished is unknown : it is 

 probable, that, having devoured every thing else, they 

 subsist on each other ; and being, on their whole migra- 

 tion towards the sea, attended by larger animals of prey, 

 their ranks thus grow thinner and thinner, till they all 

 either are destroyed or expire naturally. Sometimes such 

 numbers have been found dead, that their putrid carcasses 

 have infected the surrounding air, and occasioned malig- 

 nant distempers. 



These animals are prolific beyond conception; and, 

 F 2 



