23S 
several of the older naturalists have copied 
their accounts. Afterwards Wormius gave a 
more particular description; since which, 
Ricaut, in the Philosophical Transactions, 
Linnaeus, in the Acta Holmiensia, and Dr. 
Pallas, in his publication before mentioned, 
have still farther elucidated its history and 
manners. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 280. 
The lemming differs in size and colour ac- 
cording to the regions it inhabits: those 
which are found in Norway being almost as 
large as a water rat, while those of Lapland 
and Siberia are scarce larger than a field 
mouse ; the Norwegian measuring more than 
five inches from nose to tail, while those of 
Lapland and Siberia scarce exceed three. 
The colour of the Norway kind is an elegant 
variegation of black and tawny on the upper 
parts, disposed in patches and clouded mark- 
ings ; the sides of the head and the under 
parts of the body being white, the legs and 
tail greyish. In the Lapland kind the colour 
is chiefly a tawny brown above, with some 
indistinct dusky variegations, and beneath of 
a dull white ; the claws are also smaller than 
in the Norwegian animal. The head of the 
lemming is large, short, thick, and well fur- 
red ; the snout very obtuse ; the ears very 
small, rounded, and hid. in the fur; the eyes 
small; the neck short and broad; the body 
thick; and the limbs short and stout, espe- 
cially the fore legs ; the fore-feet are broad, 
furnished with five toes, which have strong, 
compressed, and somewhat crooked claws, of 
which the three middle ones are longer than 
the rest; on the hind-feet are also five toes, 
with smaller claws than those of the fore-feet ; 
the tail is very short, thick, cylindric, obtuse, 
and covered with strong hairs, disposed like 
those of a pencil at the tip. 
The natural or general residence of the 
lemming is in the Alpine or mountainous 
parts of Lapland and Norway, from which 
tracts, at particular but uncertain periods, it 
descends into the plains below in immense 
troops, and by its incredible numbers be- 
comes a temporary scourge to the country, 
devouring the grain and herbage, and com- 
mitting devastations equal to those caused 
by an army of locusts. These migrations of 
the lemming seldom happen oftener than 
once in ten years, and in some districts still 
less frequently, and are supposed to arise 
from an unusual multiplication of the animals 
in the mountainous parts they inhabit, toge- 
ther with a defect of food ; and, perhaps, a 
kind of instinctive prescience of unfavourable 
seasons, for it is observable that their chief 
migrations are made in the autumn of such 
years as are followed by a very severe win- 
ter. The inclination or instinctive faculty 
which induces them, with one consent, to 
assemble from a whole region, collect them- 
selves into an army, and descend from the 
mountains into the neighbouring plains, in 
the form of a firm phalanx, moving on in a 
straight line, resolutely surmounting every ob- 
stacle, and undismayed by every danger, 
cannot be contemplated without astonish- 
ment. All who have written on the subject 
agree that they proceed in a direct course, 
so that the ground along which they have 
passed appears at a distance as if it had been 
ploughed ; the grass being devoured to the 
very roots, in numerous stripes, or parallel 
paths, of one or two spans broad, and at the 
distance of some ells from each other. This 
mus; 
army of mice moves chiefly by night, or 
early in the morning, devouring the herbage 
as it passes, in such a manner that the surface 
appears as if burnt. No obstacles which they 
happen to meet in their way have any effect 
in altering their route ; neither tires, nor deep 
ravines, nor torrents, nor marshes or lakes : 
they proceed obstinately in a straight line; 
and hence it happens that many thousands 
perish in the waters, and are found dead by 
the shores. If a rick of hay or corn occurs in 
their passage, they eat through it ; but if 
rocks intervene which they cannot pass, they 
go round, and then resume their former straight 
direction. If disturbed or pursued while 
swimming over a lake, and their phalanx se- 
parated by oars or poles, they will not re- 
cede, but keep swimming directly on, and 
soon get into regular order again; and have 
even been sometimes known to endeavour 
to board or pass over a vessel. On their pas- 
sage over land, if attacked by men, they will 
raise themselves up, uttering a kind of bark- 
ing sound, and fly at the legs of their inva- 
ders, and will fasten so fiercely at the end of 
a stick, as to suffer themselves to be swung 
about before they will quit their hold ; and 
are with great difficulty put to flight. It is 
said that an intestine war sometimes takes 
place in these armies during their migrations, 
and that the animals thus destroy each 
other. 
The major part, however, of these hosts, is 
destroyed by various enemies, and particu- 
larly by owls, hawks, and weazels, exclusive 
of the numbers which perish in the waters; 
so that but a small number survive to return, 
which they are sometimes observed to do, to 
their native mountains. 
In their general manner of life they are 
not observed to be of a social disposition, but 
to reside in a kind of scattered manner, in 
holes beneath the surface, without laying up 
any regular provision, like some other ani- 
mals of this tribe. They are supposed to 
breed several times in a year, and to produce 
five or six at once. It has been observed 
that the females have sometimes brought 
forth during their migrations, and have been 
seen carrying some in their mouths, and 
others on their backs. In some parts of 
Lapland they are eaten, and are said to re- 
semble squirrels in taste. 
It was once believed that these animals fell 
from the clouds at particular seasons, and 
some have affirmed that they have seen a 
lemming in its descent; but an accident of 
this kind is easily accounted for, on the sup- 
position of a lemming escaping now and then 
from the claws of some bird which had seized 
it, and thus falling to the ground ; a circum- 
stance which is said not unfrequently to take 
place when the animals are seized by crows, 
gulls, &c. 
10. Mus oeconomicus, ceconomic rat. The 
oeconomic rat, so named from its provident 
disposition, and the skill with which it collects 
its provisions, is a native of Siberia, inhabit- 
ing that country in vast abundance, and 
even extending as far as Kamtschatka. its 
curious history has been given with great 
exactness by Dr. Pallas: who informs us that 
these little animals make their burrows with 
wonderful skill, immediately below the sur- 
face, in soft turfy soils; forming a chamber, of 
a llattish arched form, of a small height, and 
11 
about a foot in diameter, to which they some- I 
times add as many as thirty small pipes or 
entrances, and near the chamber they fre- 
quently form other caverns, in which they ] 
deposit their winter stores ; these are said to 
consist of various kinds of plants, even of 
some species which are poisonous to man* 
kind. They gather them in summer, har- 
vest them with great care, and evep some-J 
times bring them out of their cells in order 1 
to give them a more thorough drying in the ] 
sun. The chief labour rests on the females ; | 
the males during the summer wandering I 
about in a solitary state, inhabiting some old] 
nests occasionally, and living during that pe- 1 
riod on berries, without touching the hoards; | 
which are reserved for winter, when the male ] 
and female reside together in the same nest. ] 
They are said to breed several times in the] 
year, the female producing two or three] 
young at a time. 
The migrations of this little species are not 
less extraordinary than those of the lemming, 
and take place at uncertain periods. Dr3 
Pallas imagines that the migrations of tliosm 
inhabiting Kamtschatka may arise from some 
sensations of internal fire in that volcanua 
country, or from a prescience of some unit-- 
sual and bad season. Whatever is the cause, 
the fact is certain. At such periods they ga- 
ther together, during the spring season, in 
surprising numbers, except the few that re- 
side about villages, where they can pick up 
some subsistence; and this makes it probable 
that their migrations, like those of the lem- 
ming, are rather owing to want of food. The 
mighty host proceeds in a direct course west- 
ward, occasionally swimming with the utmost 
intrepidity over rivers, lakes, and even arms 
of the sea. During these perilous adven- 
tures, some are drowned, and others destroy- 
ed by water-fowl, fish, Ac.: those which 
escape rest a while to bask, dry their fur, 
and refresh themselves, and then again set 
out on their migration. It is said that the 
inhabitants of Kamtschatka, when they hap] 
pen to find them in this fatigued situation, 
treat them with the utmost tenderness, and 
endeavour by every possible method to reJ 
fresh and restore them to life and vigour. 
Indeed none of the smaller animals are so 
much esteemed by the Kamtschadales as 
these, since to their labours they owe many 
a delicious repast, robbing their hoards in 
autumn, and leaving there some kind of pror 
vision in return, accompanied by some ridi- 
culous presents by way of amends for flit 
theft. As soon as the migrating host of these 
animals has crossed the river Penschim, at 
the head of the gulph of that name, it turns 
southward, and reaches the rivers Judoma 
and Ochot about the middle of July: the 
space thus traversed appears astonishing, on 
consulting the map of the country. The 
flocks during this time are so numerous that 
an observer has waited two hours to see them] 
all pass. T heir return into Kamtschatka is 
in October, and is attended with the utmost 
festivity and welcome on the part of the na 
fives, who consider their arrival as a sun- 
prognostic of a successful chace and fishery] 
and they are said equally to lament their mi 
grations, which are usually succeeded by 
rainy and tempestuous weather. 
This curious species is generally of a tav ny 
colour, darker on the back, and lighten oi 
