4:54 
YEETEBRATA. 
in which Rodolph, the hero of the story, is plunged into a cellar, where, amid the rising waters 
which threaten to drown him, he is beset by rats. This fanciful picture is but a representation of 
the possible truth. One of the centers of attraction to these brutes in the French capital, is the 
establishment at Montfaucon — already mentioned — ^for the kilhng of disabled horses. It was pro- 
posed some years ago to remove this to a greater distance from the city, but it was objected 
that the immense number of rats that had long congregated there Avould be dangerous to the 
inhabitants in the vicinity. A government examination was ordered, and the facts reported are 
startling. It appeared that the carcasses of the slaughtered horses, sometimes to the amount of 
thirtjr-five per diem, are found next morning picked to the bare bone by the rats. A part of this 
establishment is inclosed by solid walls, at the bottom of which several holes are made for the 
entrance and exit of these vermin. Into this place Dusuassois, the proprietor, put the dead bodies 
of two or three horses, and having stopped up all the holes toward midnight, with as little noise 
as possible, he, with several workmen, each bearing a torch in one hand and a stick in the other, 
suddenly entered the inclosure, shut the door, and began a general massacre. Wherever a blow 
was directed, even without aim, a rat was killed ; and those which attempted to escape by run- 
ning up the walls were quickly knocked down. The dead of one night amounted to 2,660; the 
result of four hunts was 9,101 ; and by repeating the experiment at intervals of a few days, Dusu- 
assois destroyed 16,060 rats in the space of a month. Now when it is recollected that the yard 
in which these numbers were killed does not contain more than a twentieth of the area over 
which the dead horses are spread, some idea may be formed of the multitudes that infest this 
place ; indeed, the adjoining fields and eminences are riddled with their burrows, and their paths 
thereto may be traced from the inclosures where the horses are slaughtered. It is probable that 
the rats of both Paris and London greatly exceed in number the human inhabitants. 
We have a few facts to add to this long account in respect to the Black and BroAvn Rat, both 
of which, long since domesticated in America, have become denizens of every part of the country. 
Of the size, appearance, and habits of the former, it may be said they are the same as in that of 
Europe. It is alike prolific and voracious ; its winter abodes are barns and granaries, cellars and 
outhouses, pig-sties and stables. In the summer it usually quits these haunts, and lives in the 
woods and fields, but with the cold season it returns, making depredations not only in the pantry, 
the larder, and the potato-bin, but in the granary, and even among eggs, ducks and chickens, if 
such come in its way. It is less destructive in its nature than the Norway Rat, and has greatly 
diminished before the superior strength and voracity of that species, but in some localities it still' 
exists in formidable numbers, and is a great pest. 
The American Norway Rat is also the same as its European brother. The stories of the fierce- 
ness and voracity of the latter, some of which we have repeated, could be easily rivalled in respect 
to the former. It has been said that the toes and parts of the feet of bed-ridden persons have 
sometimes been eaten away by the Norway Rat of Europe ; thus the old German rhyme says — 
"A Saxon duke had grown so fat, 
*Tis said that many a mouse and rat 
Ate grots and labyrinths to dwell in 
His palsied parts, without his feeling." 
In this country instances are recorded of the American species having attacked men while 
asleep, and persons are sometimes met with showing a piece of the ear or of the nose bitten out 
in their childhood by these vicious brutes. They are exceedingly pugnacious, and when several 
of them are together they are frequently seen fighting, biting, and squabbling among themselves. 
They are very abundant in New York and other large cities, especially along the wharves and 
docks, where they grow very large, and are called Wharf-Rats. 
Among the African species of this genus is the Babbary Mouse, M. ^arSarzis, called Phar- 
azef, or the Palmetto Mouse, by the natives. It is of a grayish-fawn color, with ten longitudinal 
brown stripes along the back. Gervais says it is in size between the field-mouse and the black 
rat. It is an exceedingly pretty animal, feeding on seeds and grain, and may be easily tamed, 
when it becomes familiar and pleasing. It produces six to eight young at a birth, and is common 
