CHAPTER XIII 



RATS ^ {Mus or Efimys) 



Now, Muse, let's sing of rats ! 



(Gbainger.) 



The overwhelming majority of rats fall under 

 two species : (i) Mus rattus, the black rat, and 

 (ii) Mus decumanus, the brown rat. The 

 original home of both species is, according 

 to Dr. Blandford, Mongolia; but the date of 

 their first appearance in our islands is a matter 

 of some uncertainty. According to Helm, M. 

 rattus passed into Europe at the time of the 

 Volkerwanderung, and doubtless accompanied 

 the migrating Asiatic hordes on their journeys 

 westward. The name rat appears in early High- 

 Dutch glossaries, it is mentioned by Albertus 

 Magnus, and occurs in early Anglo-Saxon 

 writings in England. This evidence is, however, 

 not conclusive that in those times the rat had en- 

 tered Great Britain ; indeed, according to Bell,^ 



1 The modem systematist now calls the black rat Epimys rattus, 

 and distinguishes two varieties — E. rattus alexandrinus and E. 

 rattus rattus ; the brown rat is now E. norvegicus. 



" A History of British Quadrupeds, 2nd ed. London, 1874, 

 135 



