282 



EODENTIA. 



The skins are sold by the pound, and only the samples 

 are counted, as the cost of counting the skins would 

 render the business unprofitable. The best skins weigh 

 If lbs. per dozen ; the fair average If to 2^ lbs. ; the 

 medium 1^ to 2|- ; and the suckers i to J. 



The following list shows the number of bales of 

 Babbit skins from Australia and New Zealand offered 

 for sale in London during the last twelve years :^ 



The Babbit exists in the greatest quantities in New 

 Zealand. Vast numbers are killed for tinning by the 

 Meat Preserving Companies, and it is asserted that 

 these even refuse to take more than 2,000 pairs a day. 

 They are tinned with the small bones, and are con- 

 sequently more palatable than most other tinned meats. 

 Large quantities of these tinned Babbits are imported, 

 and are much appreciated by seamen. 



The numbers in New Zealand are so prodigious, that 

 extensive tracts of pasture-land have become useless, 

 and unsaleable. 



A correspondent of Nature thus writes ; — " The Babbit 

 plague has become so severe that 1,346,554 acres have 

 been surrendered to the Crown on account, the loss of 

 revenue being £32,803. The Babbit has simply 

 devastated whole tracts of country, rendering the land 

 unfit for pasturage. During August, 1887, the Babbit 

 Inspectors travelled 20,202 miles, and destroyed 

 2,069,128 Babbit scalps, and from January 1st to 

 August 1st they destroyed 10,538,778 scalps." 



