142 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



opossums, and other carnivora, and especially 

 by the skunks, which enter barns and outhouses 

 in search of it. 



Until the discovery of America, the rat 

 and mouse were unknown in the New World, 

 and the first rats who ever saw it are said to 

 have been introduced in a ship from Antwerp.^ 



The brown rat is of a greyish-brown colour, 

 tinged with yellow and white beneath. The 

 tail is not so long as the body. It is a larger 

 rat than M. rattus, has shorter ears, a more 

 powerful skull, and ten to twelve mammae. Its 

 ears, feet, and tail are flesh-coloured. Like M. 

 rattus^ colour varieties occur often : the mela- 

 nistic variety, not uncommon in Ireland, being 

 sometimes mistaken for the black rat. It 

 is a larger animal than its congener, more 

 heavily built, with a more powerful head, and 

 blunter jaws. The head and body measure 

 some eight to nine inches, but the tail, as a 

 rule, does not surpass the length of the body 

 alone. Its weight averages about nine ounces. 

 It is extremely fierce and extremely cunning, 

 and in the struggle for existence with allied 

 species has hitherto been consistently success- 

 ful in the fight. 



Mus decumanus is very prolific, and produces 

 several litters a year, each averaging eight 

 to ten in number, but twelve or even fourteen 



1 Ovalle's * History of Chili,' in Churchill's Voyages, vol, iii, p. 46. 



