140 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



lives exclusively in the crowns of coco-nut 

 palms, feeding almost entirely on their fruit. 



Contrary to the opinion of Blandford, 

 Oldfield Thomas thinks that the black rat 

 originally came from India, and thence spread 

 all over the world, exterminating the indigenous 

 rats of other countries, only to be exterminated 

 later by the arrival of the stronger M. decu- 

 manus. At the present time the last-named 

 species is not yet established in some countries 

 — for instance, in those of western South 

 America. On that continent, M. alexandrinus, 

 a tropical variety of M. rattus, is waging war 

 on the less highly organised native rice-rats 

 (Sigmodon). M. alexandrinus has a grey or 

 rufous back, and a white belly. 



M. rattus has a milder, more amenable, 

 and tameable character than M. decumanus, 

 and the white, or pied varieties, so dear to 

 schoolboys, are of this species. It is cleanly 

 in its habits, and the skin is kept in excellent 

 order. Like other rats, it holds its food in its 

 hands whilst eating, and it drinks by lapping. 



Although the black rat is tending to be 

 driven out by the brown rat, it still lingers 

 on in some warehouses in London, at Yarmouth, 

 in Sutherlandshire, I believe in Lundy Island, 

 and I have been told it occurred not so very 

 long ago on the island in the Serpentine. It 

 doubtless occurs in many other places. 



