TRUE POSITION OF MUS RAT T US. 205 



Subspecies 3. — The Black Alexandrine Rat, subsp. n. 

 (Mus ?'attus ater). 



This well-marked race, which is a very recent arrival on our 

 shores, deserves some such title as has been suggested by Mr. 0. 

 Thomas, for it is now a well-marked race, and occurs by itself in 

 several places where the M. r. alexandrinus and true M. r. rattus 

 are apparently unknown. 



The whole of the upper parts of this variety are glossy black, 

 which in bright light has a curious green sheen, and the pelage 

 deeper and richer than in the two other races ; the minor and 

 terminal portion of these hairs are jet-black, and the major or 

 hidden portion is white or grey ; the lower parts dusky grey. 

 Ears, vibrissa, feet, and measurements identical with the last- 

 named subspecies. Tail not so thick at the base as M. r. alex- 

 andrinus, and slightly longer. 



The Black Alexandrine Bat is a native of the Black Sea ports, 

 although its original home is, like that of the other races, 

 unknown. Its habits are similar, and it is a great traveller on 

 board the grain-ships, and has doubtless reached many out-of- 

 the-way places of which at present we are ignorant. I saw what 

 I believe to be a Bat of this subspecies lying dead in a Kaffir 

 village about fifty miles north of Pretoria; and was informed that 

 they were common there, and that the "Blue" variety was not 

 known. These Bats had doubtless worked their way up from 

 Johannesberg, via Delagoa Bay. It is, I believe, also found in 

 several of North African sea-ports. I first heard of this race as 

 an inhabitant of London in 1900, but it was not until 1904 that 

 I obtained two fine specimens from Messrs. Courage & Co.'s 

 Brewery, Horsleydown, London, S.E., where they have been 

 found in company with both M. r. alexandrinus and M. r. rattus. 

 Mr. Douglas English, whose excellent photographs of the animal 

 accompany this article, has also known of them for some time,, 

 and has kept several in captivity, which he has kindly sent me 

 for examination. These were also taken in London, and so far 

 I have not heard of it in any other British sea-port. After 

 examining over one hundred specimens of " Old English Black" 

 Bats — that is, old examples that have been killed in inland places 

 during the past fifty years, and were undoubtedly examples of 

 the race that is now nearly extinct — I have not found one that 



