CLASS MA.M MALTA. 



191 



FIG. 328. 





The Common, or House Mouse and the House Rat, 

 both originally from Cen- 

 tral Asia, are now found, 

 through transportation by 

 ships, in every part of the 

 world.* 



The Musk Bat lives on 

 the river bank and in shal- 

 low ponds, using its verti- 

 cally flattened tail for scull- 

 ing. Besides long burrows 

 in the river banks, it often constructs winter houses out 

 of rushes and 

 mud, but always 

 near, and some- 

 times surround- 

 ed by water. 

 That they con- 

 struct these 

 dwellings in the 

 fall, as to their 

 height above 

 the water oft- 

 en three feet or 



! ' 



Mus in&s' c& his. House Mouse. 



FIG. 329. 



Mus dec it md'nus. House Rat. 



* They are exceedingly clean- 

 ly, and, in limited numbers, use- 

 ful for their scavenger work and 

 destruction of insect vermin. 

 When food fails they migrate in 

 companies to new places. In such 

 journeys they often travel long 

 distances and cross broad rivei-s. 

 They take with them the old ami 

 infirm, and Dr. Franklin asserts 

 that he once saw a rat leading a 

 blind comrade by a twig grasped 

 in its mouth. 



Fro. 330. 



Fiber zibeth'icus. Musk Rat. 



