TRANSACTIONS 



OF THE 



NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE 



1870. 

 I._ZOOLOGY. 



Art. I. — On the New Zealand Rat. By Walter Buller, F.L.S., F.G.S. 



(With Illustrations. ) 



[Read before the Wellington PMlosopMcal Society, June 25, 1870.] 



According to native tradition and tlie accounts of tlie early colonists, there 

 formerly abounded in New Zealand a small frugivorous rat, which has, within 

 the last quarter of a century, become almost extinct. The extermination of 

 this apparently indigenous species is generally attributed to the introduced 

 brown rat {Mits decumanus)^ which now infests the country and devours 

 everything that comes in its way ; and the Maoris are accustomed to speculate, 

 by comparison, on their own ultimate extinction in like manner before the 

 stronger Anglo-Saxon race, which is fast gaining the ascendancy. " As the 

 pakeha rat has eaten up the Maori rat, so will the pakeha kill the Maori," has 

 already passed into a proverb. 



Whether the so-called ISTew Zealand rat was indigenous to the country, or 

 whether it came with the first Maori immigrants, it is impossible now to 

 determine. But one thing is certain, namely, that within the memory of the 

 present generation of Maoris it abounded in such numbers as to constitute a 

 staple article of animal food. Certain wooded districts were renowned for rats, 

 and at particular seasons of the year, hunting parties, often a hundred strong, 

 were formed, and tra23ping carried on in a systematic manner. On these 

 occasions thousands of rats were captured and eaten, or potted down in their 

 own fat for future use. 



Even at the present day, in the investigation of title before the Native 

 Lands Court, the trapping of rats in former times is often brought forward by 

 the claimants, as one of the recognized acts of ownership on the part of the 

 tribe so claiming, and in support of the original native title. 



B 



