The Hawaiian Rat. 



Bv WiTMER Stone, A.M., Sc.D. 



(Curator of Birds and Mammals, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.) 



While tradition and early accounts of the islands indicate 

 that a native rat occurred plentifulh' in the Hawaiian Group, the 

 species has, through the immigration of the familiar Norway and 

 Black Rats {Rattus norvegiais and R. rattus) and the later intro- 

 duction of the mongoose, disappeared so rapidl}- that it was 

 generally supposed to have become extinct. Furthermore, no 

 specimens of the animal had been preserved so far as we are 

 aware. 



In the spring of 1913 Mr. John F. G. Stokes of the Bernice 

 Pauahi Bishop Museum discovered on the island of Kahoolawe a 

 number of bones and some portions of mummied rodents, a few of 

 which were referable to the House Mouse {Mus musculus) , but 

 the majority to a species intermediate in size between this and the 

 introduced rats, which he identified (correctly so it proved) as the 

 Hawaiian Rat. His discovery of these remains is best told in his 

 own words: 



"In March and April of 1913 I was on the island of Kahoo- 

 lawe investigating the site of an ancient fishing station or early 

 fish-hook factory. It was situated on the west shore of Kamohio 

 Gulf at about the middle of the southern coast (see U. S. Coast 

 and Geodetic Survey Reg. Map No. 2726, immediately to the east 

 of Black f\ ), and protected from the ocean swell by a small prom- 

 ontory. A few feet back from the sea was a rock shelter, worn 

 by wave action apparently, preceding a slight elevation of the 

 land. The cliffs enclosing the gulf were very precipitous, making 

 access from the interior of the island to the sea almost prohibitive 

 in that vicinity. They were barren of vegetation. The entrance 

 and interior of the shelter were partially filled by talus which 

 had fallen from a vertical cliff on the northern side, and on the 

 slopes of the talus, within the shelter, loose stone terraces had 

 been built. One use of the terraces (and perhaps the only one) 



[253] (3) 



