344 Transactions.—Zoology. 
After a time the sight of the first mouse was reported as seen in the grass. 
In the course of a week the grass country and the houses were plentifully 
supplied. It is most remarkable that the rats immediately cleared out 
before them, and from that time were much scarcer. 
In Otago, formerly, I used to kill a great number of rats living singly 
under plants of the Spaniard, the old leaves of which made them a nice 
thatched roof, and the root was eaten if nothing better offered. Once in 
the early days of settlement in Otago, when I was snowed in, and could get 
nothing to feed my fowls on, I caught large numbers of rats near the house 
(getting them from under the Spaniard bushes) and roasted them for the 
fowls. I noticed that the stomach of these rats was generally full of a white 
wire-like worm, about two inches long, which I considered a parasite, as they 
were always perfect ; but, if I remember right, there was no appearance of 
other food in the stomach, and very little room for it, as the worms were 
knoited together into a mass that about filled the cavity. 
Nore sy Pror. Hurron. 
The skin from Napier belongs to Mus rattus. It agrees perfectly with 
the description of the specimen in the Colonial Museum, from Wellington, 
(Trans. N.Z. Inst., IV., p. 183), and with Dr. Buller’s description of his Mus 
nova-zealandi@ (Trans. N.Z. Inst., IIL, p. 1). The two specimens caught 
in the oat-field had been put into kerosene, and were not fit for stuffing. 
They both presented, externally, the same characters as the skin from Napier. 
I have examined these two skulls, and find that they agree with Mr. Salter's 
description of the skull of M. rattus, except in being smaller and more 
elongated. Consequently, they differ from the Maori rat skulls, from Shag 
Point, in the partieulars that I have already pointed out. 
There can, I think, be no doubt that these rats belong to the Polynesian 
variety of Mus rattus, and consequently the Maori rat must be regarded as 
a distinct species, for which I propose the name of Mus maorium. 
The following are the measurements of the skull of the adult male 
specimen. I have added measurements of M. rattus from England (from 
Mr. Salter’s drawings), and of M. decumanus from New Zealand :— 
M. rattus, M.rattus, | M. decumanus, 
: Napier, England. Dunedin. 
Length we a a pH .. 1:43 1:64 1:78 
Width at zygomatic arch* st Pe “59 “82 “75 
Foramen magnum, height =: ie 19 14 20 
a by width ee es :25 "28 28 
* In the measurements of the skulls fr i i i d 
bes and qaare orn Shag Point, the width at the zygomatic atch should 
