46 
MEMOIR OF PENNANT. 
We assent to the fact, hut must solve the pheno- 
menon by ascribing it to a whirlwind, as he does 
in one place, yet immediately supposes they may he 
bred in the upper regions out of feculent matter.” 
Following our tourist to Iceland, we shall select 
a few of his zoological observations on that remote 
island. “ An attempt has been made to introduce 
the rein-deer; those which have survived the voyage 
have bred frequently. There can he little doubt of 
their succeeding ; Iceland has, in common with Lap- 
land, most of the plants for their summer’s food, 
and abmidance of the rein-deer lichen for their 
winter provision. Eats and mice seem to have been 
involuntarily transported. Both the domestic spe- 
cies are found here ; and the white variety of the 
mouse, called in the Icelandic skorger mgs, is com- 
mon in the bushes. I suspect th.at there is a na- 
tive species allied, as Dr. Pallas imagines, to the 
Oeconomic ; for like that, it lays in a great maga- 
zine of berries by way of winter store. This species 
is particularly plentiful in the wood of Husafels. In 
a country where berries are hut thinly dispersed, 
these little animals are obliged to cross rivers to 
malce their distant forages. In their return with 
their booty to their magazines, they are obliged to 
repass the stream ; of which Mr. Oleffen gives the 
following account : — ‘ The party, which consists of 
from six to ten, select a flat piece of dried cow- 
dung, on which they lay the berries in a heap on 
the middle ; then by their united force they bring 
