White. — On the Bats of Neic Zealand. 259 



than our standard of a grey colour, as of a rat or rabbit. If so, 

 it seems hardly applicable in this case. But hina is a personi- 

 fication of the moon, and supposing the original form to have 

 been mokai, rather than moki, we have " Hina's pet," the 

 animal moving about at night. For comparison see hina-po, 

 twilight (j)o = night) ; hina-pouri, very dark (j?ouri= darkness) ; 

 hina-moe, sleepy (moe = sleep) . " Hinamoki," a rat, was likely 

 used by the Moriori of the Chatham Islands, and by a pre- 

 Maori race in New Zealand. 



A third name is " maungarua," the cave in the hill (rua, a 

 hole, a cave for storing crops). Maunga is also to dwell or 

 reside (in) ; rua, the storeroom. This last definition is very 

 suitable for a rat. A fourth name for a rat is " riroi " (roi = fern- 

 root). Dieffenbach describes a store cave seen on his journey 

 between Lake Taupo and Eotomahana (vol. i., p. 378) : — 



" The sides of this small ravine consisted of pumice-stone or 

 tufa, and here the proprietors of the potato-ground had 

 hollowed out deep caves, which were secured from without, and 

 were full of potatoes. Snares made of flax-leaves were laid all 

 around the entrance for the purpose of destroying the rats. 

 One of the holes filled with potatoes had been left open for the 

 use of travellers, as is customary in New Zealand, and to us 

 this liberal custom proved a great relief." 



Elsewhere Dieffenbach mentions that the Maoris were 

 necessitated to build pataka, or storehouses elevated on poles 

 or posts, to preserve their provisions from the rats. They also 

 kept the bones of some of their friends in boxes at the top of 

 poles set up in the pa or fortified enclosure where they lived. 



Some of these rat names may have been only in temporary 

 use during the time a chief was named More — as Nga-te-kuri, 

 the descendants of kuri, the dog ; Nga-te-ruru, the descendants 

 of ruru, the owl. 



Conclusion. 



In this paper I purposely refrain from making a summary 

 of the various statements therein, for my opinion is that after 

 a lapse of ten or twenty years the subject will be more readily 

 understood when the then history and habits of the three 

 species of rats are remarked on and compared. For example, a 

 careful inquiry should be made at once to discover whether 

 M. rattus is frequent about the stores at different shipping- 

 places, and if any of the Polynesian rats arrive in the small 

 vessels which convey fruit and island produce to New Zea- 

 land. If it is correct that the " kiore " came to New Zealand 

 in the Maori canoes from Earotouga or elsewhere, may not 

 this same arrival of M. maorium to New Zealand be still 

 continued by European shipping "at this date ? If so, we have 

 no certain proof that the "kiore" was not exterminated and 



