410 
XVI. 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
iMus ALEXANDRiNus. A Rat of tliis species, which I now exhibit, 
Avas killed by Mr. Arthur Grimmer, on board a Avherry, at the 
St. Swithin’s Avharf in this City, on 13tli August, 1881. The 
Avherry on board which it was killed, was delivering maize brought 
from Yarmoutli, she having shipped her cargo at that port, from a 
London vessel Avhich loaded at the granaries in Victoria Docks; 
it is impossible, therefore, to say whether the Rat first saw light in 
London or Yarmouth, or even at the Avharf at XorAvich. It was 
doubtless, however, either an immigrant, or bred from imported 
paieuts, Avhich probably came to this country in a cargo of grain 
from some port on the Danube or lUack Sea. 
Ihe Alexandrine Rat is said by Lord Clermont first to have been 
observed by 31. Geolfroy St. Hilaire in Kgypt, Avhence it Avas no 
doubt introduced into Italy Avith merchandise. In the south of 
Italy it has established itself to the exclusion of M. raffus, but does 
not seem to have been equally successful in dislodging the more 
foimidablc broAvn Rat, as both species are found together. 
Although it is frequently found in vessels discharging corn from 
Egypt, it does not seem to have established itself in this country, 
being probably kept doAvn by the common species. It seems probable 
that this species is occasionally mistaken for M. which it closely 
lesembles; indeed, 31. de I’lsle (‘Annales dc 5 Sciences Xaturelles’ 
tor 18GJ, pp. 173 222), after a long series of experiments on the 
interbreeding of the tAA'o forms, arrived at the conclusion that they 
are to be regarded merely as geographical races of the same species, 
and considers M. alexandrinus to be the older or irarent stock. 
In the tAvo species of British Rats Ave liaA'e a remarkable instance 
of the succession of races. From the absence of the remains of 
M. mthis in the refuse heaps of the Roman age, it does not at that 
period appear to have inhabited Britain. Bell says that it did not 
arrive (probably from France, as its Welsh name signifies “ French 
3Iouse ) till the middle of the sixteenth century, and that Gesner 
(died ir>6y) was the first to describe and figure it. The broAvn Rat, 
misnamed the XorAvay Rat, was first observed in Europe, in the 
