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THE NORWEGIAN LEMMING AND ITS MIGRATIONS. 
By W. DUPPA CROTCH, M.A., F.L.S. 
[PLATE IV] 
A MONG the many marvellous stories which are told of the 
Norwegian lemming ( My odes lemmus> Linn.) there is one 
which seems so directly to point to a lost page in the history of 
the world that it is worth a consideration which it appears 
hitherto to have escaped. I allude to the remarkable fact that 
every member of the vast swarms which periodically almost 
devastate Norway perishes voluntarily, or at least instinctively, 
in the ocean. But as among my readers some may not be 
familiar with the lemming, a brief description of the animal 
itself will not be out of place. It is a vole, like our short- 
tailed field mouse, very variable in size and colour, but the figures 
(fig. 1), which are about half the natural size, will be found 
to resemble the majority in the latter respect. The claws, 
especially on the fore foot, are strong and curved, the 
tail is very short, the ears scarcely visible, and the beadlike, 
black eyes seem always to notice objects above them rather 
than those in any other direction. During the summer these 
animals form their nests under stones, usually betraying their 
habitations by the very care which they take to keep them 
sweet and clean. In winter, however, they form long galleries 
through the turf and under the snow in search of their food, 
which is exclusively vegetable ; and it is at this time that those 
ravages are caused which have led the Norwegians in former times 
to institute a special form of prayer against their invasions. 
There are several species of lemming, easily recognizable, and 
with well-marked geographical range ; but it is to the Scan- 
dinavian species only that the following old description applies. 
“ It lives on the shoots of the dwarf birch, reindeer lichens, and 
other mosses ; it hisses and bites ; in winter it runs under the 
snow; and about every tenth year, especially before an ex- 
tremely severe winter, the whole army of animals, in the autumn 
and at night, migrates in a direct line.” According to Olaus 
Magnus they fall from the clouds ; and Pennant narrates that 
“ they descend from the Kolen, marching in parallel lines three 
