76 MAMMALIA 



and two of the latter species. They were seen about the Dunedin 

 Town Belt and neighbourhood for two or three years but were not 

 known to increase ^- 



Family Murid^. 



Maori Rat ; Kiore (Mus exulans) 



A species of rat was one of the four land mammals found in these 

 islands when Captain Cook first visited New Zealand, the others 

 being a dog, and two species of bats. Sir Joseph Banks says in his 

 Journal {"p. 224): 



On every occasion when we landed in this country, we have seen, I 

 had almost said, no quadrupeds originally natives of it. Dogs and rats, 

 indeed, there are, the former — as in other countries — companions of the 

 men, and the latter probably brought hither by the men; especially as 

 they are so scarce, that I myself have not had an opportunity of seeing 

 even one. 



This was not Forster's experience, for in his account of the second 

 voyage of Cook, he says (vol. i, p. 201): 



"Our fellow voyagers" (Furneaux in the 'Adventure') "found immense 

 numbers of rats upon the Hippah rock (Queen Charlotte Sound), so that 

 they were obliged to put some large jars in the ground, level with the sur- 

 face, into which these vermin fell during the night, by running backwards 

 and forwards, and great numbers of them were caught in this manner." 



Always in reading this account, and considering the facts, I think 

 it highly probable that these rats, spoken of by Forster, were not 

 Maori rats at all, but were black rats [Mus rattus). Both Cook and 

 Banks considered the native rat to be rare. The ' Endeavour ' was in 

 Queen Charlotte Sound for some days in January and February, 1770, 

 and some of the rats on board were almost certain to find their way 

 ashore. Furneaux arrived in Queen Charlotte Sound in April, 1773, 

 Cook, in the ' Resolution ' reaching it in May. Over three years had 

 elapsed between the two visits, and on the second occasion the rats 

 were found to be extraordinarily abundant. The rate of increase of 



^ In Nature of 8th March, 1917, the following paragraph appeared: "Sir 

 Frederick Treves, in the Observer of 25th Feb., directs attention to the grave results 

 likely to follow from the introduction of the American Grey Squirrel into Richmond 

 Park. Not only has it driven out our own native red squirrel, but it has also spread 

 beyond the confines of the Park into adjoining gardens, working serious damage 

 there. ' They eat everything that can be eaten, and destroy twenty times more than 

 they eat.' ' The buds and shoots of young trees, apples, pears and stone fruits, peas 

 and strawberries are all laid under a heavy contribution. Already it seems the 

 Office of Works has given orders for the destruction of these pests. The order, how- 

 ever, has come somewhat late, for they have already made their way into the open 

 country of Surrey with a steady persistence and in good force. When it has reached 

 the fruit gardens and young plantations of Surrey and Kent, we shall hear more.' 



We are evidently in grave danger of having another very practical lesson in the 

 folly of 'acclimatisation,' of which the rabbit in Australia forms a familiar and 

 awful example." 



