202 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the mammalian portion of our book had been printed. A desire 
was at once expressed to see, specimens, and a reward offered to 
the inhabitants for their capture. This resulted in our receiving 
two specimens in spirit, and these proved on inspection to 
be the species described by Thompson as Mus hibernicus, a 
species which had not hitherto, we believe, been recorded out 
of Ireland. 
It is not deemed advisable to enter into detail on the 
Hebridean range of this animal, but it is only withheld in the 
interests of a species limited not only in its distribution, but also 
in its numbers. Regarding its habits, &c., we give the following 
extracts from notes, kindly communicated to us by Dr. MacRury. 
This gentleman says: there seems to be little difference between 
their habits and those of the Brown Rat; the latter predominates, 
but it is thought the black species is holding its own; although 
they are not very numerous they seem to be more so than they 
were within the recollection of the inhabitants. They appear to 
be most numerous on the sandy portions of the island, though 
found elsewhere upon it; and they affect barns and outhouses, 
but Dr. MacRury never heard of their being seen in dwelling- 
houses. 
As to the claims of this mammal to specific rank, and as 
regards its characters, general description, and history, we 
quote the words of our friend Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, of the 
Natural History Department of the Edinburgh Museum of 
Science and Art, who has most kindly undertaken a thorough 
examination of M. hibernicus and its relationship to the larger 
species of the British Muride—a service which it affords us 
much pleasure to acknowledge. Mr. Hagle Clarke reports as 
follows :— 
On the 18th of June, 1837, Mr. William Thompson, the 
well-known author of the ‘Natural History of Ireland,’ in a 
communication * to the Zoological Society of London, described 
and exhibited a new species of rat under the name of Mus 
hibernicus = Irish Rat. In this Mr. Thompson tells us that 
although he had heard of the animal before, yet it was not, he 
says, ‘‘ Until April last, when a specimen was sent from Rath- 
friland, county of Down, to the Belfast Museum, I had not an 

* For full account see ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ 1837, pp. 52, 53. 
