244 Transactions.— Zoology. 



New Zealand. But his wording is very obscure. He says, as- 

 quoted above, " A few, however, are still found in the interior 

 — viz., at Eotorua, where they have been seen by the Rev. 

 Mr. Chapman, who describes them as much smaller than the 

 Norway rat. The natives never eat the latter." 



Now, surely it is here clearly stated that the Norway rat 

 is never eaten. But in vol. ii., p. 130, he says, " The flesh of 

 Europeans they consider salt and disagreeable, a curious 

 physiological fact if true, and they stated the same regarding 

 the flesh of our dogs and the introduced European rat." 



It is a great pity that the scientific names of the rats spoken 

 of are not made use of, for in one sentence it is said that the 

 " kiore maori " was destroyed by the English rat (i.e., 

 M. rati us T), and in the following one the destroyer is called 

 " the European rat," which presumably must mean also 

 M. rattus. 



Then, it is said the flesh of the European rat (?) is dis- 

 agreeable to the taste ; elsewhere it is said they " never eat the 

 latter," the name in the preceding sentence being that of the 

 Norway rat (ill. decumanus). It is also remarkable that the 

 destructive habits of the Norway rat against its congeners are 

 not remarked on, but rather the black rat is placed in this 

 position of the destroyer of its kinsmen in New Zealand. 

 This position of the rats one to the other is astonishing when 

 we remember that the black rat (M. rattus) has long ceased to 

 exist in England, having been quickly exterminated by the 

 emigrant grey or Norwegian rat (ill . decumanus) . Nevertheless, 

 at the present time we have in parts of New Zealand all three 

 species of rat — the " kiore maori," the black, and also the grey 

 rat — lviing in the same forests, as, for example, I have taken 

 all three at Wimbledon, in Hawke's Bay, where I now reside ; 

 but the "kiore maori" are not nearly so numerous as the 

 black or grey — the last is most plentiful. In a former paper 

 I remark on what Captain Crozet says of the animals of New 

 Zealand: "The rats are similar to those of our fields and 

 forests," which would indicate the black rat (ill", rattus). 

 For if the ill. decumanus had been referred to he should 

 have said the rats of our towns and sewers, or barns and 

 stacks. 



This, then, would go to prove that "kiore pakeha " 

 (M. rattus) was seen in the north of New Zealand long before 

 any vessels were sent to southern seas to kill the whales ; 

 which leaves the question, How and when did the black rat 

 reach New Zealand ? 



The first mention of the presence of the black rat in the 

 South Island, so far as I am aware, is by Mr. Reischek, a 

 collector of natural-history specimens about the year 1885, in a 

 paper published in a former volume of " Transactions of the 



