CHAPTER III 



IN the last chapter the house rats of India were repre- 

 sented as a multitude of normal animals among which 

 were distributed small groups of abnormal animals, which 

 probably arose through inbreeding, and it was pointed 

 out that if these family groups were of variable numerical 

 size, containing from two to fifty or more members, we 

 should have reason to believe that the larger groups had 

 once been as the smaller groups in number. It now 

 remains to describe some of the family groups met with. 



The first example is of a group of melanotic rats of 

 the species Gunomys bengalensis found at Rangoon. The 

 members of this group were not only peculiar in their 

 black colour but also in being of large size and in pos- 

 sessing a peculiar form of skull. 



It is necessary to describe how the rats were obtained 

 in Rangoon. At the time of my visit about 4000 rodents 

 were being caught daily. Most of them were brought in 

 by the townsfolk for the sake of a reward. They were 

 delivered dead at certain collecting stations, twice a day, 

 at specified times. 



At Rangoon five established species of rodents are 

 common in houses. These may be enumerated as 

 follows : 



i. Mus concolor is the commonest and may be de- 

 scribed briefly and adequately as a miniature mttm. It 



