NO. 5 MAMMALS OF PANAMA — GOLDMAN IOO, 



RATTUS RATTUS RATTUS (Linnams) 



Black Rat 



[Mus] rattus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Ed. 10, Vol. i, p. 61, 1758. Type locality, 

 Sweden. 



The black rat is well established in the republic. Large numbers 

 have been destroyed in the city of Panama as a sanitary measure, 

 and in the vicinity of towns these rats have in places becomes natural- 

 ized in the open country. 



At Empire one was trapped in a thicket along the edge of a corn 

 field at least a quarter of a mile from the nearest house. On the 

 small island of Buenaventura near Porto Bello the rats were very 

 abundant and generally distributed through the woods. 



Bangs (1901, p. 644) notes a specimen collected by W. W. Brown, 

 Jr., on San Miguel Island. The species is recorded by Thomas 

 (1903a, p. 40) from Brava and Cebaco, both small islands off the 

 southwestern coast of the republic where specimens were taken by 

 J. H. Batty for the British Museum. Allen (1904, p. 67) lists 

 specimens obtained by J. H. Batty at Boqueron, where he states 

 that this rat was " Very abundant, with the habits of a wild species, 

 being found remote from towns or the dwellings of man." 



Specimens examined : Boqueron, 17 1 ; Boquete, 3 * ; Buenaventura 

 Island (near Porto Bello), 1 ; Cana, 1 ; Empire, 1 ; Gatun, 1. 



RATTUS RATTUS ALEXANDRINUS (Geoffroy) 



Roof Rat 



Mus alexandrinus Geoffroy, Description de l'Egypte, mammiferes, 1818, 

 P- 733- Type locality, Alexandria, Egypt. 



The roof rat seems to be much rarer than the black form in 

 Panama. A specimen collected by W. W. Brown, Jr., on San Miguel 

 Island was recorded by Bangs (1901, p. 644) who says : " The three 

 introduced species of Mus could not have been very numerous in 

 San Miguel, as one individual of each was all that fell into Mr. 

 Brown's traps in over three weeks of collecting." 



Genus MUS Linnaeus. House Mice 

 The genus Mus includes many indigenous Old World species and 

 is represented in America by an immigrant, the familiar house mouse, 

 now cosmopolitan in distribution. 



1 Collection Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



