6 
THE RAT. 
hides them ; and its front teeth, or rather incisor teeth, are 
much longer and stronger than those of the other species of 
rats, and are perfectly yellow. It has young but twice a year, 
and very few at a birth ; consequently the species is rather 
scarce. The great majority of those animals which we see 
about the ditches and rivers are the common brown rat. 
The Black Eat {Mus Rattus, Linnaeus). 
Tiiis species is one-third less than th-e brown rat, and with 
ears and tail longer in proportion. Its colour is greyish 
black. The head is elongated ; the muzzle taper and di- 
vided, and garnished with numerous long black hairs. The 
upper jaw projects far beyond the lower, which is remark- 
ably short ; the tongue is smooth ; the nostrils open and 
crescent-shaped ; the eyes small, but black, and very promi- 
nent. It has three grinders in each jaw (the first of which 
is the largest), and four incisor or front teeth. In its dispo- 
sition it is fierce, daring, and omnivorous. 
Mr. Bell tells us that, independently of devouring every 
digestible substance, it will not refuse even old shoes or 
woollen clothes. 
Blumenbach informs us that the black rat is extremely 
voracious ; that it eats even scorpions, and follows man and 
his provisions everywhere, even on board his ships or into 
the deepest mines. Mr. Bell says that, from its inferiority 
in size, it has nearly disappeared ; that the brown rat has 
superseded it to such a degree that with us it has become 
almost extinct. 
This circumstance, it appears, has been a source of great 
pain and grief to our amusing traveller and naturalist Mr. 
Waterton, who tells us that he once rode fifty miles to see 
one, and that when he beheld it he could not help exclaim- 
ing, " Poor injured Briton ! Hard, indeed, has been the fate 
of thy family ! In another generation, at furthest, it will 
probably sink down to the dust for ever ! " 
I fear that our worthy friend and patriot has been labour- 
ing under two mistakes. In the first place I shall (^uote 
Baron Cuvier, who tells us that the black rat, like the 
surmulot or brown rat, appears not to be aboriginal in 
Europe, l^o evidence exists of this animal being found 
