138 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



England and in a number of places on the continent 

 of Europe. The peculiarity of its range, which will 

 be explained more fully directly, lies in the fact of 

 the occurrence of isolated colonies in the mountains 

 of Europe, in Ireland and Scotland, and in the 

 mountains of Japan (Fig. 8). From a distributional 

 point of view, it is one of the most interesting species 

 of mammals, and its history throws a flood of light 

 on the geographical changes which have occurred in 

 former times. 



One more species must be mentioned, and that is 

 the Banded Lemming {Cuniculus torquatus}, which 

 occurs chiefly in Arctic America, Northern Siberia, 

 and Greenland. Though frequently mistaken for the 

 Scandinavian Lemming, there is a striking difference 

 in the character of the teeth, which has induced 

 zoologists to put them into distinct genera. The 

 Arctic Lemming, moreover, is distinguished from 

 the Scandinavian by the absence of external ears, the 

 densely furred feet, and by the great length of the two 

 middle claws in the fore-feet. There are two species 

 of the true Lemming, namely, the one just referred to, 

 Myodus leimnuS) and Myodus obensis. These may be 

 looked upon as more or less Arctic species, since they 

 occur within the Polar Circle, but they are not so 

 exclusively confined to that region as the Banded 

 Lemming {Cuniculus torquatus}. The remains of 

 both Cuniculus torquatus and of Myodus leinmus have 

 been found in British pleistocene deposits. 



Until recently no Lemming remains had been found 



