Ekischek. — Notes on Bats, 125 



Attus bimaculosus. Plate XL, fig. 9. 



The female was described in vol. xix., "Trans. N.Z. Inst." 

 Owing to the description of the vulva having been inaccurate, 

 a drawing of that organ, taken from a fresh example, captured 

 on the summit of Ngongotaha, Eotorua, is given on Plate XL 

 Corpus vulvae centrally produced into a tapering pendulous 

 process ; the concavity is only moderately depressed, of a 

 yellowish colour ; on the face is a liedit-brown, beaded, involute 

 mark. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XL 



Fig. 1. Linyphia rufocephala, sp. nov., vulva of female ; a, inner view of 

 male's palpus ; b, outer. 



Linyphia lagenifera, sp. nov., female. 



Theridium nigrofolium, sp. nov., female. 



Theridium helveolum, sp. nov., vulva. 



Theridium truncation, sp. nov., female, four times natural size. 



Epeira mulleola, sp. nov. 



Epeira tri-tuberculata, sp. nov., male. 



Epeira tri-tuberculata, palpus. 



Attu* bimaculosus, vulva. 



Marpissa leucophceum, sp. nov., falces, maxillae, and labium of 

 female. 

 Fig. 11. Marpixsa leucophceum, palpus of male. 



Art. XVIII. — Xotes on Rats. 



By A. Reischek, F.L.S. 

 Read before the Auckland Institute, 29th August, 1887.] 

 The forests of New Zealand abound with rats ; especially 

 near the ocean and in the uninhabited wilds. I have found 

 them in the North Island, but they are far more numerous in 

 the West Coast sounds of the South Island. I have shot rats of 

 various colours, such as yellowish-brown, piebald, silver-grey, 

 brownish-grey, and black. The Wanderer rats (Mus decumanus) 

 are in the majority. In 1884 I made an expedition to Dusky 

 Sound, there I traversed many miles of country over which 

 no human being had ever been before. At the altitude of 

 4,000 feet I found the rats very numerous, and in the winter, 

 when the mountains were covered with snow, I found their tracks 

 on it. But it is in Chalky Sound, where I am at present, that 

 they have played on me the most devilish tricks, and are more 

 numerous than in any other place I have been. I fed them on 

 poisoned plaster of Paris and oatmeal, trapped and shot them ; 

 but as fast as I got rid of one lot another came. They made so 

 much noise in the hut at night that I could scarcely sleep. 

 They ran over us in bed, knocked articles down from the shelves, 

 gnawed the provision cases, and made a dozen or more holes all 



