6 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
—that we devote our attention in considering 
the relation it bears to human welfare, espe- 
cially on the farm. 
‘‘The rat,’’ says Lantz, succinctly, ‘‘is the 
worst mammalian pest known to man. Its 
depredations throughout the world result in 
losses amounting to hundreds of millions of 
dollars annually, But these losses, great as 
they are, are of less importance than the- fact 
that rats carry from house to house and from 
seaport to seaport the germs of the dreaded 
plague.”’ 
This enormous evil can be cured only by be- 
ing prevented; and it is not only to the personal 
interest of every man, but a part of his public 
duty, to do all in his power to stamp out a pest 
which is not only costing the country many 
millions of dollars in damages annually, but is 
constantly threatening each of us with horrid 
diseases. 
History. In order to destroy the rats we 
have, and to guard against their increase 
on our own premises, at least, we must become 
acquainted with the haunts and habits of the 
animal. 
