314 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Type locality. Russia. 



Faunal position. As with the other introduced species of old world 

 rats it is impossible to assign this animal a definite faunal position. 



Habitat. Houses, outbuildings and fields. 



Distribution in New York. The house rat occurs throughout New 

 York, wherever there are towns or settlements. 



Principal records. De Kay: "In this country it was introduced 

 with the foreign mercenaries during the revolutionary war. They are 

 now numerous in all the states, and have even extended to Canada " 

 ('42, p. 80). Merriam : "This ubiquitous naturalized . exotic is found 

 even within the confines of the Adirondacks. But his presence here 

 omens no good. Like the lumberman, whose footsteps he follows, he is 

 the personification of destruction and desecrates the soil on which he 

 treads " ('84.6, p. 161). Fisher: " Common [at Sing Sing]" ('86, p. 197). 

 Mearns: "Abundant. One was trapped at the base of East Kill moun- 

 tain at the altitude of 2000 feet" ('98b, p. 351). 



I have found the house rat at Geneva, Ontario co.; Peterboro, Madi- 

 son co. and Elizabethtown, Essex co. Mr Savage reports it abundant 

 in the neighborhood of Buffalo, and Mr Helme reports it equally numer- 

 ous on Long Island. 



Mus rattus Linnaeus Black rat 



1758 [JS/kr] rattus Linnaeus, Syst. nat. ed. 10. 1 :6i. 



1842 Mus rattus De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia, p. 80 



(part). 

 1842 Mus americanus De Kay, Zoology of New York, Mammalia. 



p. 81 (part). 



Type locality. Sweden. 



Faunal position. Not now determinable as the animal has been too 

 widely distributed by artificial means. 



Habitat. Houses and buildings of various kinds. 



Distribution in New York. It is doubtful whether the black rat still 

 exists in New York. 



Principal records. De Kay : " It. is now exceedingly rare " ('42, p. 81). 

 The animal is not mentioned by Merriam, Fisher or Mearns. 



I have never seen the black rat in New York. Many of the older 

 inhabitants at Peterboro, Madison co. have told me of the immense 

 numbers in which the ' blue rats ' or ' barn rats ' once occurred. To judge 

 from these accounts, which I consider trustworthy, this animal must have 

 been more abundant than its successor the house rat. Mr Hiram Wilson 



