138 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



of young rats to the total rat population is 

 greater during the warmer months — from June 

 to October— than at other times of the year. 

 It is also noteworthy that the fall in fertility 

 begins before the onset of the plague epizootic, 

 though, later, it roughly coincides with it. 

 In Britain they increase so fast as to overstock 

 their abode, and thus they are forced, from 

 deficiency of food, to devour one another, and 



Fig. 45. — ^Head of Mns raUus. (From Flower and Lyddeker.) 



this alone, Pennant thinks, ' prevents even 

 the human race from becoming a prey to them, 

 not but there are instances of their gnawing 

 the extremities of infants in their sleep.' 



The black rat is catholic as to its diet, 

 omnivorous, and it devours every kind of 

 human food. It is more domesticated than 

 its congener, more devoted to human habita- 

 tions, and it does immense damage to stored 

 grain, seeds, and cereals. It is a better 

 climber than M. decumanus, which accounts 

 for its being par excellence the ship-rat, since 

 it can climb hawsers and more readily * comes 



