350 



THE RODENTS OR GNAWING ANIMALS. 



and every creature in a foolhardy way. Many are 

 run over in the streets by carriages, as they defiantly 

 put themselves in the roadway and do not move. 

 The Dogs on farms kill a great number of them and 

 the Cats probably eat so many that they are never 

 hungry. 

 Propagation of According to the assurances of my 



the Lem- old hunting companion, the young 

 ming. are born in the holes in which they 



in maturer years continue to live. Linnaeus says 

 that the animals mostly bear from five to six young 

 at a birth, and Schaffer adds that they have several 

 litters a year. No further particulars as to their 

 propagation are known to me. 



The Food of The principal foods of the Lemmings 



the Lem- are the few mountain plants which 

 ming. thrive in their sterile native country, 



especially grasses, Reindeer lichen, the buds of 

 the smooth dwarf-birch, and probably also various 

 roots. Lemmings are found as high as lichens grow, 

 and are absent where these are lacking. As far as I 

 have been able to discover they do not lay by stores 

 of food for winter, but even then subsist on what 

 they find under the snow. They do not cause any 

 damage, worth mentioning, to Man, for there are no 

 cultivated fields where they live, and they do not 

 enter human habitations. Their native country, ster- 

 ile and barren as it may appear, is fertile and pro- 

 ductive enough to meet their wants, however, and 

 generally supplies them with all they need. In 

 some years, however, this does not seem to be the 

 case; then the Lemmings are obliged to migrate. 



Reasons for My opinion is that the cause of such 

 Migration of Lem- migrations must be a temporary lack 

 mings. f f 00 d, brought about by a peculiar 



combination of circumstances, as happens some- 

 times with other Arvicolidae. When a mild winter 

 is followed by a good spring and a dry summer, all 

 conditions are fulfilled for a propagation of the 

 species which, like that of some other Arvicolidae, 

 may in point of numbers be termed an unlimited 

 one. At the same time the dry weather favors a 

 drying up or at least a stunting of the growth of the 

 principal nourishing plants; when this occurs the 

 diminished pasturage can not satisfy the needs of 

 the hosts of these creatures, voracious like all Ro- 

 dents, and they are compelled to look for food else- 

 where. It is a known fact, that in similar conditions 

 not only Rodents make common cause and troop 

 together, but also other vegetable feeding animals, 

 as for instance Antelopes; they migrate, are joined 

 by others of their kind on the way, and ultimately 

 wander along in an apparently aimless manner, as 

 they neither follow a given direction nor bend their 

 course toward such localities as will really afford 

 them something to eat. Only after hundreds of 

 thousands have perished from hunger, disease and 

 the fatigue and casualties of traveling, the survivors 

 again try to gain those heights which are their real 

 abode, and then it may happen that instinct resumes 

 its deserted throne and they push on in a straight 

 line. Taking all this in consideration, the migra- 

 tions of the Lemmings do not strike me as at all 

 more wonderful or less explicable than those of 

 other wandering Mammalia, especially of other 

 Arvicolidae. 



The Migration It certainly is fortunate that the 



Fortunate creatures have so many natural foes 



for Man. anc j perish in such immense num- 

 bers on their journeys; else they would overrun the 

 whole country, and devour everything eatable. The 



climate doubtless is the most effective extermina- 

 tor of these animals. A wet summer, or a cold, 

 early, snowless autumn kills millions of them, and it 

 is evident that several years are then required to 

 repair the havoc made in their ranks, which in its 

 effects resembles the ravages of an irresistible epi- 

 demic. Besides this, an almost countless number of 

 living foes pursue the Lemmings. One may really 

 say that in Scandinavia all species of beasts of 

 prey grow fat on them. Wolves and Foxes follow 

 them for miles and eat nothing else, when Lemmings 

 are to be had; the Wolverine, Polecat, Marten and 

 Ermine hunt no other prey during the Lemming sea- 

 son; the Dogs of the Laplanders, ever hungry beasts 

 that they are, consider a Lemming year a festal sea- 

 son such as is seldom provided for them; the Owls 

 follow the migrating hosts; the Buzzards are tireless 

 in their efforts to exterminate these hapless crea- 

 tures; Ravens feed their young on them and Crows 

 and Magpies also do their best to kill the biting 

 little beasts; even the Reindeer are said occasionally 

 to eat Lemmings, or at least to kill them by stamp- 

 ing upon them with their fore-hoofs. 



The Lemming Man attacks the Lemmings only 

 Economically when compelled by the utmost neces- 

 Useless. sity. The skin is not worth much 

 and, as is easily conceived, the idea of eating their 

 flesh inspires the natives of the countries they infest 

 with much the same feelings that the thought of a 

 diet of Rat's flesh does us. The Laplanders are fre- 

 quently driven by hunger to eat the Lemmings, 



however. 



T , . A little animal of the United States and 



I he Lemming Canada _ extending from the Ohio Valley to 



Vole of North Alaska> js the Lemm j ng Vole or Cooper's 



America. Mouse (Synaptomys cooperi), which in form 



much resembles the ordinary Field Mouse, but which in its 



dentition resembles the Lemming so closely as to cause it to 



be classified with the latter animal. It makes its home in 



fields or grassy plains and woods. 



Zhe flfcole IRats. 



SEVENTH FAniLY: Spalacidje. 



The family of the Mole Rats {Spalacidce) consists 

 of ill-shaped, ugly Rodents, which lead subterrane- 

 ous lives. Reminding one of the Moles, they pos- 

 sess all the disagreeable qualities of the latter but 

 not their useful ones. The body is clumsy and of 

 cylindrical shape, the head is thick and the muzzle 

 blunt; the eyes are exceedingly minute or are en- 

 tirely hidden under folds of the external skin; the 

 diminutive ears are deprived of an external conch; 

 the tail is either wanting or hidden in the fur. The 

 more prominent anatomical features are the nearly 

 uniformly developed, five-toed feet; as is the case 

 with the Moles, the fore pair are the stronger, and 

 all four paws are armed with very strong claws, well 

 adapted for digging. 



The Mole Rats All Mole Rats belong to the Old 

 Peculiar to the World. They generally inhabit dry, 

 Old World. sandy plains and dig long, shallow 

 tunnels across extensive tracts of ground, after the 

 manner of Moles. None of the various species are 

 gregarious; each individual lives alone in its burrow 

 and exhibits the sullen, solitary disposition of the 

 Mole. They dig with extraordinary rapidity, some 

 of them being able to descend in even a perpendicu- 

 lar direction. Above the ground they are unwieldy 

 and helpless, but in their subterranean tunnels they 



