ee 
50 R. COLLETT. [No. 3. 


If the current is strong in those rivers which they attempt 
to cross, great numbers likewise perish, drift dead ashore, and — 
line the banks in dense layers. In some Lemming years, during 
the autumn fishery for vendace (Coregonus albula), at the north- 
ern end of lake Mjösen, dead Myodes by the barrel-full are re- 
moved from the nets, they having drifted down the two uniting 
rivers, Gausa and Lougen. Many of the rivers proceeding from 
the snowfields of the mountains are icy cold, and rapid in their 
course, but this is no obstacle to the lemmings, who trust them- 
selves to the foaming streams, and succeed in gaining the oppo- 
site side. 
Such a river, lake, or branch of fjord can, under favourable 
circumstances when the weather is calm, present å singular 
sight with the mumerous small swimming heads spread over the 
surface, all, chiefly, proceeding in åa like direction (straight across 
the water). When one approaches them in å boat they abandon 
their course, swim wildly around in a circle, or seek the nearest 
bank. 
They swim with the head and half the back above water, 
but will not venture to dive. Their range of vision is, on the 
whole, quite limited. In Nature (Vol. XLV, 1891, p. 199), Mr. 
Duppa Crotch writes as follows: — *It is well known, that the 
eyes of the lemming are so placed on the top of the head as to 
render it impossible for the animal when swimming, to discover 
any object not far above the plane of its horizon. On å calm 
morning last summer, I often placed my boat in the path of the 
swimmers, and noticed that they crossed my lake in an absolute 
"bee-line,” and that they could not discern my presence until 
the angle subtended by the boat was infinitely higher than 
that of the opposite shore.” 
1 In the mountainous districts of Gudbrandsdal (Heimdal). 
