948 Transactions.—Zoology. 
Art. XXXVIII.—Note on the Maori Hat. By Captain F. W. Horton, 
[Read before the Otago Institute, 24th October, 1876.1 
Plate IIT 
Ix the collection obtained by Mr. Booth from the Maori cooking-places at 
Shag Point, were several skulls and other bones of the Maori Rat. These 
skulls differ considerably from those of Mus decumanus, and it is remarkable 
that they all have the teeth ground quite flat, exactly as in old Maori skulls. 
These skulls resemble very closely the figure and description of the 
English Mus rattus given by Mr. Salter in the * Pro. Lin. Soc," 1862, 
Zoology, p. 66; but they differ from it in the following particulars :— 
They are much smaller. The nasal bones are not so obtuse at the 
anterior end ; there is a slight process projecting backward from the anterior 
edge of the zygomatie fossa; the ridges on the frontal bones are widely 
bowed out and extend backward quite across the parietal bones, but become 
very small posteriorly ; the foramen magnum is higher in proportion, and 
strietly pentagonal in outline ; the foramen ovale is considerably larger than 
the foramen rotundum ; the posterior nares are longer, a line from the front 
edge of the zygomatic sik crosses them slightly in front of the centre. (See 
Plate III.) 
These differences appear to be sufficient to distinguish the Maori Rat 
from English specimens of Mus rattus. It will be interesting to compare 
these skulls with specimens of the Black Rat from Polynesia, for they will 
probably be found to be identical. 
The following are the more important dimensions of the skulls from 
Shag Point :— 
Length ... = ei (4 Od. mól. 
Width at aygua ak m ui pecore | Ses 
Foramen magnum, height ... ex im ps ib 
width 
The Black Rat doeet by Dr. Buller undi: ag name y Mus nova-zed- 
landie,* and the one described by myself,} seem to be larger than the 
present specimens ; they probably belong to the true Mus rattus. 
I have compared the lower jaws of the rats from Shag Point with those 
from the Earnscleugh Cave, and I find them to be identical. The Earns- 
cleugh Cave rat is therefore not Mus decumanus, and the argument that I 
drew from the remains of these rats as to the recent age of the remains of 
Clangula finschi, Cnemiornis, and Dinornis in this cave,} falls to the ground. 
* « Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” Vol. OL, p. 1. 
T “ Trans. N.Z. Institute,” Vol. IV., p. 183. 
& “ Trans. N.Z. Institute," Vol. VIL, p. 138. 
