32 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



Mr. Darwk 

 Buenos Ayres." 



Maldonado 



of a rusty yellow colour at the apex, in other respects it resembles the British 

 variety. The rusty yellow colour of the tips of the hairs produces a general red- 

 dish hue, which is the more conspicuous, when the animal is placed near an 



English specimen. " Was 



I saw a specimen 



of the common gray English, or Norway rat, lying dead in the streets, and it cer- 

 tainly had a very different appearance from these red rats. The latter, I saw 

 crawling about the hedges in the interior provinces at Santa Fe, and likewise in 

 the forest of the island of Chiloe. This latter fact, however, is a strong argument 

 against its being aboriginal, since I did not find even one undoubted American 

 species, out of the many which I collected, inhabiting both sides of the Cor- 

 dillera." — D. 



The specimen from Valparaiso very closely resembles that from Maldonado ; 



it is, perhaps, a little less red. " Common about the houses in the town of Valpa- 



raiso." 



West 



The two specimens from East Falkland are of a brighter hue, and have less 

 gray in their colouring, than in the European variety of the common rat. " One 

 of them was caught in a Bay, which is sometimes frequented by shipping, but 

 which is distant thirty or forty miles from any habitation. These rats have 

 spread, not only over the whole of East and 



of the outlying islets. When the cold, wet, and gloomy nature of the climate 

 is considered, it is surprising that these animals should be able to find food to 



live on." — D. 



The general hue of the Keeling Island specimen, is deep brown, the longer 



hairs of the upper parts of the body being, as usual, black ; but the shorter hairs, 



instead of having the pale yellow tint which we observe in the European, (or, 



Mus D 



The 



most remarkable difference, however, consists in the colouring of the under parts 

 being of a yellowish tint, and, towards the root of the tail, of a very distinct buff 



yellow : the feet are brownish. 



" This rat is exceedingly numerous on some of the low coral islets forming 

 the margin of the Lagoon of Keeling Island, in the Indian Ocean. The climate is 

 dry and hot. The rats are known to have come in a vessel from the Mauritius, 

 which was wrecked on one of the islets, which is now called Rat Island. They 

 appeared stunted in their growth, and many of them were mangy. They are 

 supposed to live chiefly on cocoa-nuts, and any animal matter the sea may chance 

 to throw up. They have not any fresh-water ; but the milk of the cocoa-nut 

 would supply its place." — D. 



