36 BEVELATIONS OF A BAT-CATCHEB. 



in the silk and similar trades, to the goods of 

 merchants, or in the grocery business, is 

 enormous, and not so much by reason of what 

 they actually eat as by what they carry away, 

 which is often ten times as much as they eat. 

 I have often proved this when ferreting at a 

 wholesale grocery warehouse. When we have 

 taken up the boards between the laths and 

 plaster we have found the ceiling almost 

 full of lump sugar, nuts, candles, &c., which 

 have been there for years, hoarded by the 

 Eats. Now, this all means heavy loss, and 

 that is why I say that any business man so 

 suffering ought to enage the services of a 

 professional Eat-catcher once a year in order 

 to keep the Eats down, and catch as many as 

 possible before they begin breeding. 



Another Eat habit may be noticed where the 

 Eodents are accustomed to have their holes 

 and runs among flags and stones. If they find 

 any soft wood such as pine or white deal, they 

 will nibble at it until it is eaten through. I 

 have often known them to eat right through 

 the legs of tables in the middle of cooking 

 kitchens. This, I think, they do simply to 

 keep their teeth clean and in order ; I have 

 known half -grown Eats to do the same. 



Eats can exist a long time on herbage, if 

 if they can get nothing more palatable. It is 



