438 
VERTEBRATA. 
nal appearance, but having the distinctive organization of the Muriens. The only known species 
is Cumming's Phleomys, P. Cumrningii, found in the Island of Lucon, one of the Philippines, 
where it is called Parout by the natives. It is a rare species, even in its native island, and its 
habits arc little known. It is nine inches long, with a tail three inches, and is not only an animal 
of considerable size, but of vigorous character, defending itself from dogs and men with great 
savageness. It lives on roots and the shoots of plants, but does not dig burrows. 
THE BROWN EAT. 
Genus MUS : Mus — this word being the Latin for Mouse. We have already treated of numer- 
ous genera and a multitude of species which bear the general designation of Rat or Mouse ; we 
now come to those to which these names more truly belong, and of which the domestic Eats and 
Mice are the types — animals possessing an enei'gy of character which has carried their species over 
the whole globe. These consist of three well known species: the Common Moitse of our houses, 
Mus musculus ; the Souris of the French; the Maus and Hausmaus of the Germans, and Sorgio 
di Casa of the Italians; the Black Rat, Mus rathis ; the Pat of the French; Patze of the Ger- 
mans; Pot of the Dutch, and Patto of the Italians; and the Brown Rat, Mus decnmanus ; the 
Surmulot of the French. AVhile those we have described have been the comparatively gentle, 
timid eaters of roots, fruits, and seeds, living for the most part in houses of their own construction 
— some in meadows, some in fields, some in forests, but all apart from man, and all feeding on 
vegetables gathered by themselves, though occasionally from the treasuries of man — those we are 
now to notice are devourers alike of fish and flesh, fruits and vegetables ; omnivorous in fact, and 
possessing at once the greediness, activity, cunning, audacity, and perseverance which have en- 
abled them, while inciting the rage, to defy the vengeance of man, at the same time persisting in 
being his companions, living \\\ his houses, feeding in his larders and granaries — in short, making 
him their servant and drudge — ^their stewai'd, farmer, gardener, brewer, baker, butcher, and banker. 
"Where thou gocst I will go; Avhere thou dwellest I will dwell," is the practical language of the 
Rat and the Mouse to civilized man, and in spite of cats, terriers, traps, and ratsbane, they have 
for centuries fulfilled this devoiit and affectionate promise. 
The Common Domestic Mouse is not indigenous to our continent, but was brought hither in 
European ships, after the discovery of America. The same is doubtless the fact in relation to the 
two species of Pat which infest our houses, the JBlacTc Pat and the Brown Pat^ the latter called the 
Norway Pat. Historically, the mouse takes the precedence, figuring in the literature of remote 
antiquity, while the rat has been only known to modern times. The mouse is only mentioned 
incidentally in the Scriptures as unfit for the Hebrew to eat— that is in the Levitical law ; but 
