2 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. Ill, 



however, in a different position. He was acquainted with local 

 conditions and therefore able to start inquiring about doubtful 

 points without tl^e preliminar}- study necessary to a new-comer 

 whose time in the country was limited. Perhaps, therefore, he was 

 able to view the whole matter from a somewhat more biological 

 point of view. 



From a purely taxonomic point of view there are doubtless 

 many zoologists who will find Captain Lloyd's work unsatisfactory, 

 because he does not describe (or at any rate does not name) new 

 species and varieties. It is perhaps as well, however, that animals 

 so important as rats should not be regarded solely from either a 

 taxonomic or a sanitary' point of view, but that pure biolog}^ should 

 have a place in their stud}-. 



Quite apart from the value of Captain Lloyd's researches, the 

 importance of the collection of Indian rats that has now been got 

 together in the Indian Museum must not be forgotten, and I desire, 

 on behalf of the Trustees, to thank those who have assisted in this 

 useful work. I have also to acknowledge a grant of Rs. 300, 

 towards the cost of the plates which illustrate Captain Lloyd's 

 paper, from the Home Department of the Government of India. 



N. ANNANDALE, 



Superintendent, Indian Museum, 



Natural History Section. 

 Calcutta : 



January 18th, 1909. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In July, 1907, the Government of India issued a circular to 

 the local Medical and Sanitary- Departments in India and Burma, 

 inviting them to co-operate with the Indian Museum in stud^'ing 

 the varieties and habits of the common rats distributed through- 

 out those countries. Such an enquiry is much needed at the 

 present da^'^ in view of the part plaj-ed b}^ these rodents in the 

 dissemination of plague. The circular met with considerable res- 

 ponse, so that within the following 3^ear over two thousand rats 

 were received by the Museum from different places. 



Rat- destruction has been carried out on a large scale in 

 many towns throughout the country^ and it is chiefly from these 

 centres that rats have been received. Most of them were obtained 

 from districts in which plague has ])een of annual occurrence, 

 but a number were received from places which have been free 

 from the disease since the commencement of the present epidemic. 

 Material has therefore been acquired by which we can compare 

 plague-ridden districts with pi ague- free districts, as to the nature 

 of their rat ])opulation. It is apparent that the freedom from 

 plague enjoyed by certain districts might possibly be due to some 

 visible peculiarity in the rat population of those districts; there 



