lemming, leming

[The Norwegian name.] 1. Zoology: (1) Sing .: Myodes lemmus, a rodent of the family Muride; habitat, the mountainous regions of Sweden and Norway. Dark brownish-black, mixed irregularly with tawny on the back, fading into yellowish-white on the abdomen. Length about six inches, the tail being only half an inch. The Lemming is remarkable for migrating at certain periods, generally at the approach of winter, in immense multitudes, in a straight line, apparently in obedience to some blind mechanical impulse. They move onward in parallel columns, and nothing will induce them to deviate from the straight line, migration always terminating in the and ending in the drowning of all that have survived the journey. ( Nicholson : Zoology .) (2) Pl .: The genus Myodes (q. v.). 2. Palæont .: The lemmings are represented by one species in Post-Tertiary deposits occurring after the Glacial Period, and being contemporary with palæolithic man. ( Nicholson : Paleontology .) lem-na, s. [Gr. lemna =a water-plant, Lemna palustris .] Bot.: A genus of Pistiaceae (Lemnads or Duckweeds). The spathe membranaceous, urceolate, the vegetative system replaced by a minute floating stem with dependent rootlets. Flowers two, moncecious, imperfect. [DUCKWEED.]