190 



The rat lives upon both of the Franklin Islands, but upon 

 no other islands yet visited. It is by no means nocturnal — 

 most of its activities are crepuscular — but at any time of the 

 day some individuals may be seen along the shore in the 

 int-ervals between the massive granite boulders. Even in a 

 visit at noon, on a particularly hot day, four specimens were 

 obtained along a stretch of some 200 yards of beach. There 

 appears to be no sort of hostility between the rats and the 

 bandicoots (Isoodon nnuficusj which run about and feed 

 together, and inhabit the same territory. Indeed, as dusk 

 comes on, it is difficult to tell which, among the many shadowy 

 forms that appear among the low herbage of the island plat- 

 form, is an Isoodon and which is a Lejporilhis. The rats 

 are by no means so tame as the bandicoots, and they proved 

 to be particularly difficult to take in traps. 



Fig. 9. 

 Arctocephalus forsteri. Left forelimb, young male. 



The fur harbours two ectoparasites, a species of flea 

 determined by Dr. Ferguson as Echidnophaga myrmecohiiy 

 and a second flea "apparently indistinguishable from Xenop- 

 si/l/(( cheopis." In the intestine of most specimens is a 

 tape worm, which is being investigated by Professor Harvey 

 Johnston . 



Rats of other Islands. 

 Goat Island, a waterless island of the St. Francis group, 

 is the home of a rat which is evidently abundant; but of 

 which no specimen has so far been obtained. The footprints 

 of the rats were to be seen round every boulder upon the 

 sea beaches, and some skeletal remains were recovered from 

 the pellets of birds of prey. It would seem to be a small 

 member of the genus Ratios; but all efforts to obtain, or 



