^6 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



meet with. They infecT: the very herbage ; and cattle 

 are faid to perifh that feed upon the grafs they have 

 touched. 



An enemy, fo numerous and definitive, would foon 

 render the countries they pafs through utterly uninhabit- 

 able, did it not fortunately happen, that the fame rapa- 

 city that excites them to lay wafte the productions of the 

 earth, at laft impels them to deftroy each other. — Having 

 nothing more to fubfift on, they are faid to feparate into 

 two armies, which engage with the mod deadly hatred, 

 and continue fighting and devouring each other till they 

 are all entirely deftroyed. Thoufands of them have been 

 found dead *, and the air, infected by their putrid car- 

 cafes, has fometimes been the occafion of malignant dif- 

 tempers. — Great numbers of them are likewife deftroyed 

 by Foxes, Lynxes, Weafels, and other beads of prey, 

 which follow them during their march. 



The Leming runs fwiftly, although its legs are fnort 

 and {lender. — It is fomewhat lefs than the Rat : Its head 

 is pointed ; and in each jaw are two very long cutting- 

 teeth, with which it bites keenly : Its ears are fhort, eyes 

 fmall, fore legs fhorter than the hind : The colour of the 

 head and body black and tawny, difpofed in irregular 

 patches \ the belly white, tinged with yellow. 



Though perfectly difgufting to every other people, its 

 fiefti is faid to be eaten by the Laplanders. 



"Where thefe emigrants are collected, as was before 

 obferved, is not certainly known. Linnaeus fays, they 

 are produced among the Norwegian and Lapland Alps \ 

 and Pontoppidan fuppofes, that Kolen's Rock, which di- 

 vides Nordland from Sweden, is their native place. But 

 wherever they come from, none return. Their courfe 

 is predefined ; and they purfue their fate. 



