80 
NEW-YORK FAUNA. 
Description. Body robust. Ears rounded, as broad as long, and nearly naked. Eyes 
black, large and prominent. Tail naked and scaly, with a short hair under each ring; it is 
sometimes as long as the body, but usually shorter. 
Color. Hair dusky ash at the roots, yellowish with a reddish tinge at the tips, intermixed 
with longer hairs of a uniform brown, from which results a yellowish gray brown color above. 
Beneath, soiled white, inclining to cinereous. Feet pale flesh-color. 
Length of head,.. 2'5. 
Ditto of body,... 9'0. 
Ditto of tail,. 8'5.. 
This well known and dreaded pest of our dwellings came originally from Asia. It appeared 
in Europe about the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is believed to have been 
imported into England with its Hanoverian race of kings. In this country, it was introduced 
with the foreign mercenaries during the revolutionary war. They are now numerous in all 
the States, and have extended to Canada. It takes to the water, and swims with great ease. 
In cities it infests the wharves, and hence is frequently known as the Dock Rat. The name 
decumanus, we apprehend, was not given on account of its size ( decimanus ), but from decu- 
inanits, in allusion to the tithe of every thing taken by this voracious animal. (See Cicero 
contra Verres.) 
The Rat is a bold, voracious and cunning animal, and appears to be as fond of flesh as of 
vegetables. It brings forth twelve to sixteen at a litter. The best mode of destroying them 
is said to be, mixing plaster of paris largely with dry flour ; this will harden in the stomach, 
and destroy them in a short time. Another mode is to mix powdered nux vomica with indian 
meal, and add a few drops of oil of rhodium to the mixture. Arsenic is frequently employed, 
but is objectionable on account of the fatal accidents to which it frequently gives rise. 
THE BLACK RAT.— (Introduced.) 
MUS RATTUS. 
Mus rattus . Linn. 12 Ed. p. 83. 
Black Rat. Pennant, Arct. Zoology, Vol. 1, p. 129. Harlan, Fauna Americana, p. 148. Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. 
Yol. 2, p. 83. Richardson, F. B. A. Yol. 1, p. 140. Emmons, Mass. Report, 1840, p. 63. 
Characteristics. Greyish black above ; ash-colored beneath. Tail somewhat longer that! the 
body. Length 15-16 incites. 
Description. Head long ; muzzle more acute than in the preceding species ; lower jaw very 
short. Ears oval, broad and naked, nearly half as long as the head. Whiskers long. Fore 
feet with four toes, and a claw in place of thumb. Tail longer than the body, and covered 
with scales in the form of rings. Feet plantigrade. Mamms twelve. 
Color. Deep iron-grey or greyish black above ; lighter beneath, usually cinereous. Feet 
and tail dusky, with white hairs covering the tops of the feet. 
