10 



under the snow during the winter, but he did not find them 

 in other places than here. Nathorst mentions them from the 

 same place, (1. с , p. 168) and simply characterizes them as 

 «winterlodge». In several places, (for instance in Sabine Island, 

 at Cape Dalton, and in Turner Sund at Cape Borlase Warren) 

 we found such dwellings; many of them were so unhurt that 

 it is impossible to think they should have come up from the 

 earth somehow, for instance brought forth by the water; they 

 must have been made on the earth, and this can only be thought 

 to happen during the winter, when the snow is covering the 

 earth and spares the lemming from intruders. In Ørsteds Dal 

 I saw several of that sort of dwellings lying on the ground, 

 one of them had even a little heap of dung a little outside the 

 opening of the entrance; and from the dwelling one sees rather 

 distinctly small paths in the moss, probably made during the 

 winter, under the snow. In captivity the lemmings made a 

 similar nest of grass, and wool from the musk-ox, also with a 

 little heap of dung outside ; in this nest most of the lemmings 

 of the cage lived, and were packed up very closely when resting; 

 they were exceedingly comfortable and warm there ; on our 

 tearing the nest they mended it again. It is not improbable 

 that the lemmings live in a similar way in these dwellings above 

 ground , packed up perhaps in families ; in that way they are 

 comfortable and warm, even during the severest wintertime. 

 From this dwelling the lemming makes excursions under the 

 snow, to places where it may gnaw the bark from the willow, 

 or secure food of other sorts. But it also digs holes through 

 the snow, and runs about on it to go down again somewhere 

 under it (compare Bay, I.e., p. 15). Bay searched for the dwel- 

 ling of the lemming under the snow, by following the passages, 

 but he never found such winterdwellings, the passages under 

 the snow always led to holes in the ground. Thus it may 

 reasonably be taken for granted that the lemming, during the 

 winter, may also live in the same, or similar dwellings under 



