Vol. III. JULY, 1887. No. 27. 



AN ANIMAL ARMY. 



Marvelous invaders are the lemmings. They are neai relatives 

 of the short-tailed field mouse, and are about five inches long, with 

 round heads, brown fi.u', and bead-like eyes. Their home is in 

 the highlands, or fells, of the great central mountain chain of 

 Sweden and Norway, where they build nests ot grass for their 

 young. The lemmings are spiteful little creatures when aroused, 

 sitting up on their hind legs and fighting with a will. Not only 

 are they pugnacious, but extremely restless and migratory as well; 

 and every five, ten, or twenty years they seem possessed by a de- 

 sire to see f reign lands. 



Thereupon, they one and all leave their settlements and start out 

 in tens of thousands, overrun the cultivated tracts of land in both 

 Norway and Sweden, and ruin the plants and vegetation. They 

 march only at night, pressing on slowly iji one straight course, 

 and allow nothing to disturb them. Birds and various animals 

 follow and prey upon them; but, notwithstanding this, they actually 

 increase in numbers, gaining recruits as they advance. Rivers are 

 swum and hills crossed, until, finally, the Atlantic or the Gulf of 

 Bothnia is reached. 



But, still impelled by the same blind instinct that has led it on- 

 ward, the entire vast concourse plunges into the sea, swimming 

 onward, the little animals piling one upon another as they are 

 beaten back, until at times their bodies have formed veritable sea- 

 walls. Boatmen returning to the beach have found their way ob- 

 structed by a struggling horde that has just reached the sea. The 

 number of lemmings in these bands is beyond all computation. 

 Sometimes the march is kept up for three years before the water is 

 reached. — C. F. Holder in St. NicJiolas for June- 



GEMS B Y THE PECK. 



The French crown jewels are sold. Tiffany & Co., from whom 

 we received a catalogue of this magnificent collection lately, pur- 

 chased over one-third of the entire amount. The French govern- 

 ment refused to put the famous " Regent " up on the ground that 

 it might fall into American hands. The sale amounted to near 

 $1,336,000. 



