
52 | or. COLLEÅT. å [1893 
The death rate amongst them is unusually great, and, dur- 
ing prolifit years, manifests itself early in the summer; and one 
may constantly observe, how apparently healthy individuals 
drop down dead, as if struck by an invisible blow. 
Many of these sudden deaths occur during great heat. At 
the same time the stench from the deceased individuals can be 
almost unbearable, especially at such points where the multi- 
tudes assemble in crowds, such as on the shores of the large - 
fjords. One may then perceive how one or other individual 
will stop suddenly in its gait, after å moment's stand commence 
to run round, then, generally, make a little jump, fall then down 
on its side, kick a little with its legs, and so die. 
It often appears as if the want of water, combined with the 
heat, is åa contributory factor in these sudden deaths. 
It 15, however, undoubtedly during the winter that most 
deaths take place, when they keep crowded together in å small 
space. Under those floors of barns in which they have taken 
up their winter quarters, their bodies may be found by the 
hundred in spring, and it has happened that it has been neces- 
sary to pull down such outhouses or barns in order to remove 
the decaying carcasses which polluted the air. 
Great numbers likewise perish shortly after the melting ot 
the snows. It has often been noticed that they might still be 
numerous when the fields were just bare, but shortly afterwards 
almost entirely disappear. As before stated (p. 37), the common 
people believe that they eat themselves to death on the shoots, 
or the sprouting grass. The true reason is, probably, that the 
germs of disease, under the changed conditions of temperature 
then become strongly developed in many individuals. 
seribed, in 1893, under the name of Streptotrix lemani, n. sp. ad in- 
terim. (Dr. O. Johan-Olsen: *Om Sop paa levende Jordbund,” Chri- 
stiania, 1893, p. 95.) 
Whether it is this Bacteria (or, what is more probable, other 
species still unknown) that causes the numerous and sudden deaths 
in their ranks, and which, finally, causes them to disappear al- 
together, may be brought to light by future investigations. 

