116 THE REASON WHY 



Valour's a mouse-trap, wit a gin, 



Which women oft are taken v/." HUDIBRAS. 



360. Why does the, dormouse* become fat during its period of 

 hybernation, while other hybcrnating animals become thin ? 



* Because its hybernation is imperfect ; it occasionally wakes and 

 eats of the store of food it has previously laid up. Thus feeding, 

 and being wholly inactive, its fat increases. But in the case of 

 animals that hybernate perfectly, and do not eat, the fat of their 

 bodies is consumed for the support of their organic functions. 



361. Why is a small number of mice beneficial in some houses ? 



Because they are great eaters of the beetles which infest houses 

 during the night. 



362. WJiy are rats beneficial in -certain instances? 



Because they frequently make the sewers or drains their principal 

 haunts, and by devouring putrefying substan _ % e? contribute materially 

 to cleanliness and health. 



363. As matters are at present, the drainage of London stains the water of the 

 Thames ; but when we take into consideration the countless millions of brown rats 

 which are supported in the sewers, and of which the greater part are produced, 

 rive, feed, and thrive there, without any other store for their support, we can 

 readily understand what would be the case if it were not for them. Thus, whether 

 these animals come under the name of rats or mice they are, under certain circum- 

 stances, highly useful, playing the part of scavengers for man in cases where he either 

 cannot or will not play it for himself. Every animal, indeed, which follows man in 

 all his migrations, and multiplies in proportion as his numbers multiply, is always 

 useful to him. Aost of these animals are, no doubt, annoying, and many of them 

 are positively offensive ; but, in all cases where they are so, man will find that he 

 himself is generally to blame. They come to consume that which is at variance with 

 health and cleanliness; and if the latter is properly attended to, there is no 

 place for 



Rats are exceedingly clean animals ; they invariably wash themselves all over 

 after eating, no matter what. The operation is performed in the same manner 

 as the cat does by licking the paws. When a rat eats, he, by means of his sharp 

 front teeth, gnaws away a mouthful, which he deposits in a sort of pouch formed 

 between his grinding-teeth and his chwks. Then he ceases gnawing, and masticates 



Myoxus glis. + Partington's "Cyclopaedia." 



