LEM M tig* 
59 
@Ten to endeavour to board, or pass over a vessel. 
This army of rats moves chiefly by night, or early 
in the morning ; and makes such destruction 
among the herbage, that the surface of the ground 
over which they have passed, appears as if it 
had been burned. Their numbers have at times 
induced the common people of Norway to believe 
that they had descended from the clouds ; and the 
multitudes that are sometimes found dead on the 
banks of rivers, or other places, corrupt by their 
stench the whole atmosphere around, and thus 
produce many diseases. They are even thought 
to infect the plants which they gnaw ; for cattle 
turned into pastures where they have been, are said 
frequently to die in consequence. 
They never enter dwellings of any description, 
to do mischief; but always keep in the open air. 
When enraged, they raise themselves on their hind 
feet and bark like little dogs. Sometimes they 
divide into two parties, attack each other, and 
tight like hostile armies. From these battles, the 
superstitious of the inhabitants of Sweden and 
Lapland pretend to foretel not only wars, but 
also their success, according to the quarters the 
animals come from, and the side that is defeated. 
The females breed several times in a year, and 
produce five or six at once. It has been observed* 
that they have sometimes brought forth during 
their migrations ; and they have been seen carrying 
some their young in their mouths and others oo 
their backs. The flesh of the lemmings is not used 
as food. The hair is very fine, but too thick to be 
of value as a fur. 
They feed on grass, on the rein-deer liverwort, 
and the calkins of the dwarf birch. The first 
they get under the. snow, beneath which they wan- 
der during winter. Where they make their lodge? 
Clients, they have a spiracle to the surface for tbs 
