
10 R. COLLETT. - Note: 


The only one of the later authors of the 16th century who, 
somewhat more independently, treats of this species, is Peder 
Claussön Friis (* Petrus Undalimus”). In one of his commentaries 
(1599) *Om alle Slags Diur som er udj Norrigh”", he gives å 
description of this animal, and an account of its natural history. 
In this they are called *Lömmer” or *Lemminger” (*Le- 
minger”); å migratory year, 1580, is also mentioned, the wander- 
ings extending from the Trondhjem Fjord right down to *Agde- 
siden” (Listerland), thus to the south point of the country*. 
It is probable that this migratory year was a continuance of 
that in the Bergen Stift, 1579, mentioned by the German trades- 
men. The theory of their descent from the clouds, which he has 
taken from Olaus Magnus and subsequent authors, he supports 
with a few new observations which were personally made to 
him by *trustworthy gentlemen”?. Peder Claussön's remarks 
were subsequently used as a source by many authors, who, in 
the following century mentioned this species. 

The oldest designs which may be supposed to represent this 
species, may thus be traced back to the years 1539 (1555), and 
1580. 
1 Samlede Skrifter af Peder Claussön Friis, udgivne af Dr. Gustav 
Storm. Christiania 1881, p. 50 
2 "Som det oc scheede Anno 1580, at her komme saa mange utallig 
Thusinde af demb hid i denne Egn paa Agdesiden, oc vare komne 
alt fraa Jemteland oc Thrundhjemb, som vij siden spurde,” 
3 This celebrated theory exists amongst the Norwegian peasantry in 
many places, unshaken to this very day. 
In the migratory year 1891, I received a letter from Dr. Juell, 
at Kongsvinger, in which he states: — 
*On this occasion too one hears on all sides, and from men 
even who one would credit with better understanding, that these 
animals fall from the skies during heavy showers. Some (more 
enlightened people) explain the matter thus, viz, that the ani- 
mals are carried from the mountains by low driving clouds to 
the valleys.” 
Even in 1847, Professor Nilsson, in his Skand. Fauna (224 Edi- 
tion, p. 381), after mentioning this theory, states: *For my part I 
cannot discover anything unreasonable in this explanation.” 
