CAPTUEE OF RALEIGH BY THE WHARF RAT. 

 By C. S. Brimley. 



Three species of rats are commonly known as house rats; 

 these are the Black Rat (Mus rattus), the Brown Rat or Wharf 

 Rat (Mus norvegicus), and the Roof Rat (Mus alexandrinus). 

 Of these, the black rat, formerly the common house rat of 

 Europe, was introduced by the earliest settlers into North 

 America, and in both countries has been practically extermi- 

 nated by the wharf rat, a late comer. The roof rat, an inhab- 

 itant of the Mediterranean regions, has been introduced into the 

 Southern States, as well as into most warm countries, and ap- 

 pears to hold its own against the wharf rat better than the 

 black rat, which it resembles in all but color. In the tropics, 

 however, all three species exist side by side. 



In characteristics the three differ as follows: the black rat 

 is sooty black above, somewhat lighter below, and the tail is 

 usually longer than the head and body ; the roof rat is brownish 

 gray above, yellowish white below, and has the tail also longer 

 than the head and body; the wharf rat is browner than the 

 roof rat above, and much less white below, (the white being more 

 ashy), while the tail is usually decidedly shorter than the head 

 and body. It is also a considerably heavier animal than the two 

 others. An extra large roof rat will measure 17 inches in total 

 length, of which about 9% inches would be tail, while an aver- 

 age wharf rat of the same total length would have the tail only 

 about 7 inches, or less. 



Up to 1909 the only house rats I had seen in Raleigh were 

 the roof rats, but in that year a wharf rat was brought up to 

 the State Museum some time late in March, the first I had 

 seen since I left England in 1880. During the next year I 

 occasionally saw a dead one that had been thrown on the street, 

 but during 1911 they leaped into prominence. In that year the 

 old cotton platform near the Seaboard freight depot was torn 

 up, and it was the general opinion that multitudes of rats that 

 had been dwelling beneath were then scattered abroad. At any 



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