492 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Their depredations in granary and pantry are too well known 

 to require discussion. They can squeeze through a hole surprisingly 

 small and often get into a room that is supposed to be mouse-proof. 

 If nutritious food is not at hand they seem to be able to live for a 

 time on allnost any substance that they can swallow. A friend 

 once told me that he had very carefully put away everything that 

 it seemed possible for mice to eat for several weeks in the hope 

 that they would leave his house. In this he was disappointed, and 

 he then began setting traps. Several mice were caught, and on 

 examination it was found that their stomachs were filled with 

 paper. This had apparently been sufficiently nutritious to keep 

 them alive for some time. 



No satisfactory means of getting rid of mice has ever been 

 discovered. Like the rain, they come alike to ''just and unjust," 

 the rich and the poor. However, it is possible to exclude them 

 from the rooms of a well built house, and good floors, closely fitting 

 doors and screen wire placed over ventilators, hot air shafts or 

 other necessary openings will go farther than anything else to pre- 

 vent damage by mice and rats, 



MUS NORVEGICUS Erxleben. 

 COMMON OR NORWAY RAT. 



Mus norvegieus Erxl., Syst. regni animal. Vol. 1, p. 381, 1777. 

 Miller and Rehn, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist, Vol. 30, p. 65. 



Mus decumanus Evermann and Butler, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. 

 for 1893, p. 127. 



Diagnostic characters. — l^ody heavy, covered with coarse, 

 brownish-gray fur. Tail scarcely as long as the head and body 

 together, covered with prominent scales which are interspersed with 

 few hairs. Further description of this animal seems unnecessary. 



Eange. — Originally coming from Asia, this pest has been car- 

 ried by man to all parts of the world. It is said to have been in- 

 troduced into America about 1775. In this state, according to Dr. 

 Raymond, it first reached Brookville in the summer of 1827. Dr. 

 Plummer gives the date of its arrival at Richmond as 1835, and 

 Mr. Chansler states that it reached Vincennes about 1840. In all 

 of these places the black rat, which had preceded it, was driven 

 out in from two to five years. 



Ilahiis. — Most ])e()ph' an; all too familiar with some of the habits 

 of the ])rown rat. It lives {)i*iri('ipally nbout barns, under houses 

 and jihoiil wluii'l's sewers. II digs great holes imde!* buildings 

 find e;iiiiiot ensily be cjiplured in sneli |)l;i('es. 



