596 MURIDAE—EPIMYS 
behaves certainly as a dominant to frugivorus, and is therefore in all 
probability dominant to alexandrinus as well; lastly, having regard 
to the present mixed condition of the two “wild” races in Egypt, it is 
probable that the first immigrants to western Europe from the Near 
East comprised representatives of both frugivorus and alexandrinus. 
In this work three! sub-species are described as British, viz., 
E. rattus rattus, Linneus; E. rattus alexandrinus, Geoffroy ; and £. 
vattus frugivorus, Rafinesque :— 
Ga) DHE BIVAG Kes ReAw 
Epimys rattus vailus, Linnzeus. 
1758. Mus RATTUS, Carolus Linnzus, Syst. Vaz., roth ed, 61, and 12th ed., 83, 1766 ; 
described from Upsala, Sweden ; of most subsequent authors. 
1800. M[us] R[ATTUS] ALBUS, ATER, CINEREUS, and MACULATUS, J. M. Bechstein, 
Pennant’s Allgem. Uebersicht d. vierfiiss. Thiere, ii. 494 and 713. 
1833. MUS TECTORUM, var. FULIGINOSUS, Bonaparte, /conogr. Fauna Ital., i., fasc. 
3, pl. xxii., fig. t (name on plate only) ; described from Italy. 
1842. MUS SUBCRULEUS, Lesson, Wouv. Tabl. du Réegne Anim., Mamm., 138 ; 
described from Rochefort, Charente-Inférieure, France. 
1867. RATTUS DOMESTICUS, with the races FUSCUS, VARIUS, FULVASTER, ALBUS, 
and ATER, L. Fitzinger, Si/zungsber. kais. Akad. Wiss. Wien., math-nat. Cl., lvi., 
(1) 64 ; described from Austria, Hungary, and Germany. 
1902. MUS ALEXANDRINO-RATTUS, V. Fatio, Revue Suisse de Zool. X., 402; 
described from Ticino, Switzerland (see Mottaz, Budd. Soc. Zool. de Genvve, i., 
163, 1908). 
1905. MUS RATTUS RATTUS, J. G. Millais, Zoologist, June, 204 ; MW. (Epimys) rattus, 
Trouessart. 
1905. MUS RATTUS ATER, J. G. Millais, Zoo/ogist, June, 205 ; described from London, 
England ; type a male, No. 5.7.28.1 of British Museum collection ; 44. (Epimys) 
vattus ater, Trouessart. 
1908. EPIMYS RATTUS, Satunin, Mitth. Kauk. Mus., Tiflis, iv. Lief, 1-2, 112. 
1912, EPIMYS RATTUS RATTUS, G. S, Miller ; Catalogue, 853. 
The Black Rat has figured in books as G/s (Jonston, Quadr., 114, 
1657) and Sorex (Hoefnagel, Archetypa, 3, tab. iti, 1592). Gesner men- 
tions it (Quadr., 731, 1551) as “Mus domesticus major, quem vulgo 
vattum vocant”:; it is “ Mus Major seu Sorex” in Merrett (Pzxax, 167, 
1 The decision to regard Z. ~. /rugivorus as distinct from alexandrinus has been 
reached since the key on p. 377 was drawn up; clause A of the section dealing with 
E. rattus should read :— 
(A) Upper side brownish, 
(a) Ventral hairs white to bases (Z. vatlus /rugivorus). 
(4) Ventral hairs with slaty bases (2. va/tus alexandrinus). 

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