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BACK’S LEMMING. 
As soon as the surface of the ground had thawed, the little animal was 
observed at work making his progress beneath, and actively engaged in 
hunting for food. 
In the winter it travels under the snow in semi-cylindrical furrows, 
very neatly cut to the depth of two inches and a half in the mossy turf; 
these hollow ways intersect each other at various angles, but occasionally 
run to a considerable distance in a straight direction ; from their smooth- 
ness it was evident that they were not merely worn by the feet, but 
actually cut by the teeth ; their width is sufficient to allow the animal to 
pass with facility. 
The food of this Lemming seems to consist entirely of vegetable matters ; 
it inhabits woody spots. 
A female killed on Point Lake, June 26, 1821, contained six young, 
fully formed, but destitute of hair. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
This, animal was discovered by Captain Back on the borders of Point 
Lake, m latitude 65°, on Sir John Franklin’s first expedition. Mr. 
Edwards, the surgeon of the Fury, on Captain Parry’s second expedition, 
brought a specimen from Igloolik, in latitude 694° ; and specimens were 
obtained on Sir John Franklin’s second expedition, on the shores of 
Great Bear Lake. 
general remarks. 
As we have been entirely unable to procure original information in 
regard to the habits of the two previously noticed and the present species 
of Lemming, we have largely quoted from the Fauna Boreali Americana, 
Sir John Richardson’s valuable work, from which also our descriptions 
of these curious animals are chiefly taken, although we have transposed the 
paragraphs in order to suit the general arrangement which we adopted for 
this work. 
No animals belonging to this genus were observed by us during our 
researches through the country bordering on the shores of the upper 
Missouri and Yellow Stone rivers in 1843, and the family is very probably 
restricted to the neighbourhood of the Arctic Circle. 
