108 



MAMMALS OF THE PACIFIC WORLD 



Gnawing Mammals or Rodents 

 Order Rodentia 



The rodents or gnawing mammals of the Pacific and Malayan 

 Islands comprise squirrels, rats and mice, and porcupines. (For 

 rabbits, often included in the rodents, see Order Lagomorpha ; 

 for squirrel-like and rat-like mammals with more than two upper 

 front teeth, see Order Insectivora, p. 37, or Order Marsupi- 



Fig. 49 — Upper Right Cheek-teeth of Rice Rat, Black Rat, 

 and Vole 



alia, p. 15.) All rodents have a single upper and a single 

 lower incisor on each side, and not more than five upper and 

 four lower cheek-teeth, often fewer. The squirrels look much 

 like those of other lands and have similar habits, but some may 

 be large and strikingly colored or have very long muzzles. By 

 far the greater number of rats look much like the pests known 

 to all, and especially in the villages, many are the identical kinds 

 of black or brown rats common in the southern United States. 

 In some seaports the Norway rat may occur. There are native 

 rats on most of the islands east of the Solomons, which probably 

 came as "hitch-hikers" on the boats of natives. West of the 

 Solomons they were perhaps carried on natural rafts and drift- 



