410 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



the night. They rest during the day, and devour 

 every root and vegetable they meet with. They in- 

 fect the very herbage ; and cattle are said to perish 

 that feed upon the grass they have touched. 



An enemy so numerous and destructive would 

 soon render the countries they pass through utterly 

 uninhabitable, did it not fortunately happen, that 

 the same rapacity which excites them to lay waste 

 the productions of the earth, at last impels them to 

 destroy each other. Having nothing more to sub- 

 sist on, they are said to separate into two armies, 

 which engage with the most deadly hatred, and con- 

 tinue fighting and devouring each other till they are 

 all entirely destroyed. Thousands of them have 

 been found dead; and the air, infected by their 

 putrid carcases, has sometimes been the occasion of 

 malignant distempers. Great numbers of them are 

 likewise destroyed by Foxes, Lynxes, Weasels, and 

 other beasts of prey, which follow them during 

 their march. 



The Leming runs swiftly, although its legs are 

 short and slender. It is somewhat less than the 

 Rat: its head is pointed; and in each jaw are two 

 very long cutting-teeth, with which it bites keenly : 

 its ears are short, eyes small, fore legs shorter than 

 the hind: the colour of the head and body black 

 and tawny, disposed in irregular patches : the belly 

 white, tinged with yellow. 



Though perfectly disgusting to every other people, 

 its flesh is said to be eaten by the Laplanders. 



Where these emigrants are collected, as was be- 

 fore observed, is not certainly known. Linnaeus 

 says ,they are produced among the Norwegian and 

 Lapland Alps ; and Pontoppidan supposes, that 

 Kolen's Rock, which divides Nordland from Swe- 

 den, is their native place. 



