RAT KIND. 191 



numbers, at other times they are not so plentiful. 

 The moist seasons assist their propagation ; and 

 it often happens on such years that their devas- 

 tations produce a famine all over the country. 

 Happily, however, for mankind, these, like the 

 rest of their kind, destroy each other; and of 

 two that M. Buffon kept in a cage, male and 

 female, the latter killed and devoured the for- 

 mer. As to the rest, their fur is considered as 

 very valuable ; the natives are invited by rewards 

 to destroy them; and the weasel kind seconds 

 the wishes 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 grey, which may probably 

 arise from the difference of age. 



THE LEMING. 



HAVING considered various kinds of these 

 noxious little animals that elude the indignation 

 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 



