598 . MURID^— EPIMYS 



Kerville (p. 173) describes it as being still very common in the country 

 districts of Normandy, but as rather rare in the towns and those 

 localities in which the Brown Rat is abundant ; probably many of the 

 Norman Black Rats belong, however, to the " wild-coloured " sub- 

 species. In Switzerland, according to Fatio, it survived in 1869 at 

 Geneva, where the Brown Rat had scarcely then attained a footing; 

 the present sub-species and the " wild-coloured " forms were there 

 equally abundant. 



In Britain it was formerly widely spread both on the mainland and 

 the islands. It is still occasionally met with in old houses in remote 

 districts, but probably the only remaining mainland colony of any size 

 is that at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, studied by Patterson; further 

 details of this are given above under the species (History). Other 

 colonies are found in the Channel Islands, notably on Sark ; perhaps 

 in Scilly ; on Lundy ; in the Orkneys, on South Ronaldshay ; and 

 perhaps in the Hebrides, on Benbecula. 



In Ireland it is now extremely rare ; the only colony of " native " 

 Black Rats reported in quite recent times is that at Dungarvon, Co. 

 Waterford, alluded to above under History of species. 



This sub-species has been carried by shipping from Europe to all 

 parts of the world. Its introduction to South and Central America 

 dates from the sixteenth century ; Pennant (citing Garcilasso de la 

 Vega, 384. Ovalle, Churchill's Coll., iii., 44) says this happened about 

 the year 1544, in the time of Viceroy Blasco Nunnez. The date of 

 its introduction to North America is uncertain, but it was well 

 established in the British colonies there in the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century. Since the arrival of E. norvegicus its numbers 

 have decreased, and it is now rare in most parts of the United States 

 and Canada ; it is now found in scattered colonies mostly east of the 

 Mississippi valley, and on certain islands along the coast on both sides 

 of the Continent. In parts of Central and South America it has been 

 more persistent and is still abundant (D. E. Lantz, 11). It has acquired 

 a wide distribution in Africa and Australasia. As an introduction 

 to Indian ports it has succeeded in returning to the probable home 

 of its ancestors ; its success as a colonist varies, however, in different 

 localities, for while Liston estimated (1905) it to form about 30 per 

 cent, of all the rats of Bombay, Hossack found it very rare in Calcutta. 



Description ; — The general colour is slaty, darker on the back, paler 

 below. The dorsal fur is long, black, and silky, and often shows in 

 certain lights a greenish metallic lustre ; the underfur and long dorsal 

 hairs have slaty bases and black tips ; intermixed with them are more 

 or less numerous whitish hairs and bristles. On the under parts the 

 fur is short and of a uniform slaty or light leaden hue. There is 

 sometimes a chest-spot or stripe of white ; more rarely a white spot 



