264 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



small size all going to prove that I had fallen in with 

 the rarer Mus alexandrinus. From that date the 

 Black Rat turned up day after day for a long 

 period ; indeed, until I had secured considerably over 

 a hundred. On 20th March I obtained an adult 

 female with white feet, also a small white spot on 

 the chest and another on the head. Aged examples 

 are adorned with a sprinkling of very long hairs, 

 some of them intensely black, with a few quite white 

 showing here and there. 



It was suggested to me that some of these had 

 probably come ashore from grain-ships, but as these 

 usually lie on the west side of the river, and South- 

 town is quite apart from it, this theory was hardly 

 feasible. The older part of Yarmouth, known as 

 the " Row " district, is the stronghold of the animal ; 

 and it was not until a year or so ago that it had 

 crossed Regent Street and made its appearance in 

 the northern part of the town. 



For a very long time Mus alexandrinus evaded 

 me, that variety being curiously scarce, although 

 quite able to hold its own with rattus. A higher 

 premium certainly conduced to the capture of one 

 or two. In the latter part of April 1896 a fleet of 

 old fishing smacks, that had been brought (for some 



