124 J. B. CLELAND. 
per, viz. :—-Hydromys, 2 species; Xeromys, 1; Epimys, 13; 
Pseudomys, 18; Leporillus, 1; Notomys, 3; Ascopharynz, 
1; Comlurus, 2; Mesembriomys, 2; Zyzomys, 2; Laomys, 
2; Mastacomys, 1, and Uromys, 4. Total, 13 genera and 52 
species. In addition, we have Epimys norvegicus, HE. rattus 
and Mus musculus as introductions, presumably since colo- 
nization began, a period of only about 130 years. The 
damage done by these alien pests far outweighs any produced 
by our native species. Though some of the following refer- 
ences to mouse or rat visitations concern Australian species, 
it is certain that the most grievous of them has been caused 
by an introduced one. 
The: first reference, of which I am aware, to an unusual. 
abundance of a murine rodent in any part of Australia is 
that in a footnote to the paper by Mr. E. Palmer to be 
shortly quoted. In this he states that ‘‘it is reported that 
Cooper’s Creek, and the far western country (of Queens- 
land) were visited many years ago by multitudes of mice.”’ 
K. H. Bennett (see later) refers to an invasion of rats in 
the Darling country in 1864. 
The 1869-70 “‘Gulf Country’? Rat Visitation.—Under the 
heading of ‘‘Notes on a Great Visitation of Rats in the 
North and North-Western Plain Country of Queensland, 
in 1869 and 1870,’’ KE. Palmer, M.L.A.!, describes the 
occurrence of an ‘‘extraordinary and sudden increase in 
numbers of an indigenous rat’’ at the period mentioned, 
from the heads of the Flinders and Cloncurry northwards. 
They were first noticed about the middle and towards the 
end of 1869. January and February, 1870, were months of 
continuous rains and extensive floods, resulting in an ex- 
uberance of vegetation. When the waters had subsided. 
in the words of Mr. Palmer, ‘‘the plague of rats increased 
to an extent that would scarcely be credible. They covered 
4Palmer, Proc. Roy. Soc., Q., II., 1885, p. 198. = 
