Considering tliese facts, and particularly the extreme scarcity of the New 

 Zealand rat, the discovery of a genuine specimen is an interesting event in our 

 local natural history. A small rat recently caught on Mr. Owen's estate, at 

 Wangaehu, and forwarded to me "in the flesh," has been identified by the 

 Maoris of this district (where it was formei-ly very abundant) as the veritable 

 Kiore Maori. I have accordingly preserved the animal entire, in spirits, and 

 it is now deposited in the Colonial Museum. If (as seems highly probable) 

 this rat should prove to be new to science, I propose to distinguish it as 

 Mus NovcB Zelandice ; and in order to place on record a description available 

 for reference and comparison, I beg to offer the following notes, being tlie 

 result of my examination of the fresh specimen. 



Fur above bluish black ; sides of nose, chin, thi-oat, and underside of body 

 and inner sides of limbs uniform bluish gTey ; ears, feet and tail dark brown ; 

 soles flesh brown. The ears are large, rounded and naked, and the fur covering 

 the body is soft and glossy. The tail is elongate, scaly, and covered with 

 minute spinous hairs. The upper side of both fore and hind feet covei-ed with 

 minute soft hairs, lengthening at the extremity of the toes, and curving over 

 the claws, which are short, arched, sharp, brown in their basal portion and 

 horn coloured at the tip. The fur of the back and sides with abundant 

 lengthened hairs, but scarcely more rigid than the under fur ; no long hairs on 

 the under parts. Whiskers numerous, slender, flexible, the longest measuring 

 two inches. Eyes moderate. The cutting teeth are yellow and perfectly 

 smooth in front, the lower ones narrow, somewhat compressed and rounded in 

 front. In certain lights the fur of the back has a purplish metallic lustre. 



Adult female : six lateral ventral teats (three on each side) ; no pectoral 

 teats. 



Length, snout to base of tail 



6i inches. 



3 



15- 



„ taU 7f 



,, head ....... If 



„ forefoot . 



,, hindfoot . 



Unlike the common rat, this animal is perfectly free from odour or smell 

 of any kind, which is probably due to the nature of its food, this consisting 

 almost entirely of fruits and berries. At first glance it has more the appear- 

 ance of a gigantic mouse than of a true rat ; and on closer examination it 

 presents a marked resemblance to the black rat {Mus rattus), which was 

 formerly abundant in Britain, a phytophagous animal, feeding chiefly on herbs 

 and seeds. As all naturalists are aware, this species has, in like manner to 

 the New Zealand rat, become almost extinct in the British Isles, where it 

 once abounded in great numbers. "Whether," writes Macgillivray, "the 

 destruction of this animal has been effected by the larger and more ferocious 

 brown rat, or like that of many tribes of the human species, has resulted from 



