CONTENTS. 
ix 
PART II. 
TO THE FARMERS OF GREAT BRITAIN, ON THE FECUNDITY 
AND DEVASTATING CHARACTER OF THE RAT. 
CHAPTER I. 
ON THE UNIVERSAL PREVALENCE AND DESTRUCTIVE HABITS OF 
THE RAT. 
Kats in Shropshire — In Middlesex — Rat-match at Hanwell — Rat-killing 
in Suffolk — Destruction of Rats in London — Rat-match in a Tub — Rats 
In different Places and different Parts of the World — In the Hebrides 
— In the Islands of the Pacific — How Rats cross the Seas — Suffocating 
Rats on board Ship — Why Rats do not sink Ships — Cats for California — 
Number of Rats caught alive in one Ship — Rats and the West-Indian 
Mails — A Will devoured by Rats — Quantities of Biscuit and other Food 
devoured in the Ship Valiant — The Dutch di^iven out of the Isle of France 
by Rats — Rats in Van Diemen's Land — Rats in India. . Pages 150 — 166 
i 
CHAPTER II. 
FECUNDITY OF RATS. 
Number of Rats springing from one Pair in Three Years .... 166 — 168 
CHAPTER III. 
DEVASTATING P0V7ERS OF RATS, AND THEIR ENORMOUS 
CONSUMPTION OF GRAIN. 
What Farmers lose in Corn — Loss in the shape of Bread — Rats 
destroy more than would keep all the Poor of England — Peculiarities of 
Rats and Mice in a Rick 168 — 174. 
CHAPTER IV. 
VERMIN-KILLERS AND RAT-MATCHES. 
Comparative Estimates — The Napoleons of the Rat Wars — Number of 
Rats destroyed yearly in London in Matches and Private Practice 174 — 181 
