Notes on the Hawaiian Rat. 17 



parts of centipedes were eaten readily, the harder portions being 

 chewed for some time and then ejected. An immature mouse was 

 once found in the cage with the head eaten. 



Early in 1916, during the damp weather, the introduced snail 

 {Entot a similar is) was very plentiful. A few were fed by the 

 writer's wife to the rats in the illustration (Pis. XIII, XIV); 

 they ate them very readily, biting through and completely crush- 

 ing the fragile shells with ease. The rodents sat on their haunches 

 and held the snails with their fore paws. In less than an hour 

 twenty-one snails were eaten, and the indications were that more 

 would have been consumed had they been available. From this 

 time on snails, when found, became a part of the rats' diet. One 

 of the large introduced slugs ( Veronicella sp.) was placed in the 

 cage and the male rat made many attempts to bite it before it 

 crawled out again. 



The native arboreal and terrestrial mollusca in some of the 

 local forests are suffering from the depredations of rats, according 

 to present day collectors, undoubtedly the introduced species. 

 Dr. Cooke states that, at times, scores of mutilated shells are found 

 about the entrances to the burrows, the owners of which had 

 apparently carried them there to eat at their leisure. On learn- 

 ing of the Hawaiian rats' appetite for the Eulota, two nearly 

 mature living specimens of Partn/ina redjieldii ', a native arboreal 

 pulmonate, were placed in the rats' cage. The rodents attacked 

 them only at the aperture, breaking off the outer lip and failing to 

 reach the soft parts. 



In PI. XV, No. 2 is one of the shells so treated, placed for 

 comparison beside a whole specimen (No. 1) of Partulina redjieldii 

 of about the same size and in the same relative position. They 

 are illustrated at the suggestion of Dr. Cooke, who has kindly 

 mounted with them eight other specimens (Nos. 3-10) recently 

 collected, from which the softer parts had been extracted by an 

 introduced rat. No. 8 is harder than No. 2, and Nos. 5-7 nearly 

 as hard. 



It will be noticed that the attack by the introduced rat was 

 generally directed at the last whorl, in which the larger part of 

 the molluscan body lay. Of the nine specimens in the Museum's 

 possession, 1 one, not illustrated, was also attacked at the aperture 



1 From the shell collection of Mr. Irwin Spalding. 



O. P. B. P. B. M. Vol. Ill, No. 4.— •-'. [267] 



