THE RATS AND RATTONS 



747 



of plague infection is therefore materially but I nuist protest against the assumption 



mcreased by dark surroundings. People that whatever enters a Rat's mouth 



whose callings necessitate the frequent and passes through his body is a dead 



handling of oil are comparatively immune, loss of wealth to the country. We must 



and the same may be said, though in put to the credit of our forty million Rats 



less certain fashion, of tobacconists. It not only their services as scavengers, but 



is comforting to realise that our own 



Common 1 ' own Rat harbours a different 



species of flea, Ceratophyllns fasciatiis, 



and that a definite connection between 



the Common Brown Rat and plague has 



yet to be established, though it seems 



certain that there is a definite connection 



between the Common Brown Rat and 



irichiiiosis. 



I hold no brief for the Brown Rats. 

 The horror of the Lewisham tragedy in 

 November, 1904 (by no means the first 

 or last of such), when a six weeks old 

 living infant was gnawed to death by 

 these vermin, is fresh in my memory, and 

 no doubt many of my readers will recall 

 the tale of woe from the Gaiety Restaur- 

 ant, " 1728 serviettes behind the wainscot 

 of the band-stand," and many similar 

 tales which provided entertainment for 

 newspaper readers during the construction 

 of Kingsway. Reflection soon shows the 

 serious aspect of these incidents. Serious, 

 too, are the size of the record Rat (Malton, 

 August, 1881, length 23 inches, weight 



also tlieir services as fertilisers. We 

 must further credit them with checking 

 to a very marked extent the excessive 

 increase of furred and feathered vermin 

 smaller than themselves, not to mention 

 insects, reptiles and batrachians. Allow- 

 ing that even so there will be a consider- 

 able balance on the debit side, we must 

 consider the best means of restoring that 

 balance of Nature which we ourseh'es have 

 allowed to be disturbed. The dangerous 

 increase of Brown Rats in this country 

 is, in my judgment, entirely due to the 

 apathy with which we have permitted 

 the interests of the game preserver to 

 take precedence of the interests of the 

 community. This state of affairs should 

 cease. Badgers, otters, martens, polecats, 

 stoats, weasels, owls, hawks, buzzards, all 

 creatures, in fact, which naturally i)rey 

 on the Mnridce, should be strictly pro- 

 tected for a term of years. Instead of 

 encouraging breeds of dog and cat, which 

 are fit for little else than smirking cm 

 show-benches, we should encourage breeds 

 which take naturally to ratting, and which 

 ask nothing more than to be allowed to- 

 indulge their proper instincts. 



In the present state of affairs traps and 



2 J lbs.), the comparative frequency of 

 the baker's dozen in Rat litters, the reckless 

 courage of the Rat, the athleticism of the 

 Rat, the omni voracity of the Rat, the 

 cunning of the Rat, and the 

 ubiquity of the Rat. I admit 

 all these counts of the indict- 

 ment against him, but at the 

 same time I think it right to 

 call attention to the fallacies 

 which underlie the statistics re- 

 cently advanced by the Incor- 

 porated Society for the De- 

 struction of Vermin to show the 

 loss of wealth occasioned by the 

 presence of Rats in this countr}^ 

 Mr. Boelter, a member of the 

 Society's executive committee, 

 reckons the value of a Rat's 

 meals at one farthing per diem, 

 and estimating the number of 

 British rats at 4o,oo(j.ooo, arrives 

 at an ainmal food bill oi fifteen 

 million ])ounds. I have no 

 quarrelwith Mr. Boelter's figures, a blue ratton collecting nest material. 



