MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 263 



grocers 1 goods. At these times, too, the rats made 

 themselves at home in many of the cottages, one old 

 lady having to remove because of the persistent way 

 they occupied her pantry, and even came into the 

 kitchen and made themselves at home. My inquiries, 

 and a price set upon each clean-killed specimen, soon 

 began to bear fruit, and day after day dead Black 

 Rats were brought to me. Two examples, one an 

 immature animal with a small white spot on the 

 breast (a not unusual occurrence), were despatched 

 to Norwich and a couple of others to Edinburgh. 

 Respecting the latter pair, Mr. W. Eagle Clarke 

 wrote at once: 



March 5, 1896. " The rats you send are most un- 

 doubtedly the old English species, Mus rattus, and 

 their occurrence in abundance in Yarmouth is an 

 interesting fact. Mus rattus and Mus alexandrinus 

 are considered to be races of the same species ; the 

 black rattus being the form found in temperate 

 regions, and the brown alexandrinus the tropical 

 one." 



On 16th March I obtained two adult Black Rats, 

 and saw lying dead, and too far gone for preserva- 

 tion, four rats of a bluish grey colour below, and of 

 a rich brown above ; their long tails, large ears, and 



