MIGRATIONS. 91 



respects, of the locusts, are the Lemmings, a kind 

 of mouse or rat. These little animals, which 

 usually inhabit the mountains of Norway and 

 Lapland, in certain seasons, emigrate in prodi- 

 gious numbers to the south ; the most common 

 species 1 is said not to lay up any winter store, 

 but to form burrows under ground in summer, 

 and under the snow in winter in search of food ; 

 but that found in Kamtschatka, 2 which is larger 

 than a rat, is stated to be occupied during the 

 summer in laying up provisions for the winter 

 in holes under the turf divided into compart- 

 ments, they consist of various kinds of roots, 

 some even poisonous, but which agree with this 

 animal, and of which it collects from twenty to 

 thirty pounds. It is called in Kamtschatka Te- 

 gulchitch. In fine weather its instinct teaches 

 it to spread its harvest of roots in the sun to dry 

 and fit them for keeping. When these different 

 species of Lemmings make their excursions, which 

 take place only in certain years and seasons, and 

 in different directions, the species last mentioned 

 going towards the west, the others towards the 

 south, like certain ants, they always march 

 straight forward, neither turning to the right 

 hand nor to the left, and if their course is inter- 

 rupted by a river, they cross it by swimming. 

 The common Lemmings, when they migrate, are 

 regarded as a terrible scourge ; they devastate 



1 Lemmus vulgaris. 2 Lemmus oeconomus. 



