450 Prof. J. Steenstrup on the Character of the 



from the surface of the ground deep into the earth, and terminates 

 in a wide and deep cesspool, destined to receive both any water 

 that may run in and the fasces of the animals ; at two-thirds 

 of its length inwards, two passages issue from this obliquely, 

 one on each side, one leading to the dwelling-chamber and 

 the other to the magazine, which they always endeavour to 

 keep dry. 



It cannot be denied that a statement so particular, and 

 apparently so founded on the observation of nature as that 

 relating to the arrangement of the burrows, likewise casts a 

 certain amount of credibility upon the accounts of the mar- 

 vellous voyages performed by the mice on the water, in order 

 to seek their favourite food, the Arbutus-berries. Inasmuch, 

 then, as I regard the whole narrative as credible, I at once 

 open up the question whether the sketch of the mode of 

 life of the Iceland mouse given by Olafsen and Henderson 

 is decidedly in favour of this animal being an Arvicoline, 

 and especially a lemming, or even renders such a sup- 

 position to a certain extent probable ; and to this I can di- 

 stinctly answer no. But Murray answers it with yes, and 

 at p. 269 of his work he speaks on this subject in detail as 

 follows : — 



" That an economic Rodent lives in Iceland, is, I think, 

 established ; but the account given of its runs and granaries 

 makes it not less clear that it is not Mus sylvaticus. There 

 is no European mouse that makes a nest in the manner de- 

 scribed by Henderson. 



" But there is an animal very like a mouse (the lemming) 

 which does make extensive burrows : it is provided with 

 powerful sickle-shaped claws specially adapted for digging ; and 

 although I have not met with any account of the plan on which 

 their burrows are constructed*, there is abundant evidence 

 that they do make them. Captain M'Clintock says, in his 

 diary of the expedition of the 'Fox ' : — ' Hare-tracks are pretty 

 common along the shore, and upon the sides of steep hills ; 

 they make burrows under the snow, but we have never found 

 them in the earth like those of the fox and lemming.' Von 

 Baer says that in Nova Zembla gentle declivities are fre- 

 quently burrowed through in every direction by them. In 

 fact, the habit is notorious. 



" Another point in favour of the Iceland animal being a 

 lemming is, that Olafsen speaks of it as often white. Now, 



* John Wolley mentions only simple galleries in the turf at the surface 

 of the ground, and holes in the sides of small hills in which they dwell, 

 and outside of which the excrements occur in large heaps (Skand. 

 Naturf. Mode 1863, p. 217 et seq.). 



