METHODS OF RAT UKSJ'KUCTION. 229 



by a few Firms in various forms, all of which are not efficncious. 

 It is important that a, chemical investigation should be made, to 

 determine the active agent in the plant, and the best means 

 of preparing and supplying it. 



It is vital to the success of any attempt to reduce seriously the 

 rat population of the countiy, that the work should be carried 

 out simultaneousl}^ over hirge areas. Rats are migratory 

 animals and will readily desert a locality "which they find to be 

 unwholesome, for an area in which measures are not being taken 

 against them. They are also prolific, and will rapidly multiply 

 beyond the capacity of areas in which they are undisturbed, and 

 reinvade areas in which they had been reduced. These a.re 

 matters for administrative action, and the provisions of the new 

 Rat Destruction Bill, if carried out rigorously, should prove 

 successful. It is also to be remembered that the winter season, 

 now approaching, is the best time to make the attack. The 

 numbers of rats are naturall}^ at their lowest, and the scarcity of 

 food in their outdoor liaunts drives them to take baits more 

 readily, and to approach trajis less warily. 



II. Report ok Methods of Rat Destruction. 



By E. G. Boulengeu, I\Z.S., Curator of Reptiles, Zoological 

 Society of London. 



In connection with the Rat Exhibition held this summer in 

 the Society's Gardens, investigations were actively piu'sued on 

 various methods of rat destruction, and the following conclusions 

 were arrived at : — 



(1) Tiiat where the method necessitates baits being put down, 

 the food offered should diflfer from that which foi*ms the staple 

 supply of the rats. 



That dry bread is always accepted. That oatmeal, cheese, and 

 tallow are also attractive baits, and that fish, lard and drippiug, 

 so frequently recommended, usimlly find favour only when no 

 other food is available. 



That faint traces of the oils of Rhodium and Aniseed, so 

 commonly used to atti-act rats, instead of improving the bait 

 have the contrary eflect. 



That the tastes of the Old English Black Rat (Baiius rattus) 

 and the Common Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) are identical, at 

 least in their surroundings in this country. 



(2) That when rats are present in large numbers, and where 

 it is not practicable to use g;is, poisoning is the best and cheapest 

 method to adopt for their destruction. 



That of all the poisons we expeiimented Avith, Squill poison, 

 the extract of the bulb of the Mediterranean plant Scillcc 

 viaritima, which in the small quantities used in rat destruction 

 is harmless to domestic animals, gave the most sa.tisfactory 

 results. That it may be used Avith greatest success in the liquid 



17* 



