230 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
some have said China, and like almost everything else gradually 
spread West till, at last, soon after 1700 it reached these islands, 
to exterminate quite, or nearly so, the Black Bat, and has since 
spread with the Anglo-Saxon race to every quarter of the Globe. 
To return to M. rattus, Mr. Patterson says they are at Yarmouth 
principally confined to one very plainly marked locality, that 
section of old “ rowed ” Yarmouth, lying between the river and 
King Street in width, and between Friar’s Lane and Eegent Boad 
in length. Any one who knows Yarmouth will, I think, easily 
appreciate the significance of their confinement to this district. 
As Mr. Patterson has said, it is against their recent importation in 
grain vessels, as all these unload the other side of the river where 
rattus seem to be quite unknown : but it is, to my thinking, equally 
against their being a survival of the old stock, else why are they 
not equally to be found in that portion of old “ rowed ” Yarmouth 
to the north of Begent Boad? It looks to me as though they had 
been re-introduced (probably from some Continental port) since 
Begent Boad was made, which I expect is something less than 
a century since, and that this wide street has proved a barrier not 
easy for them to cross. Mr. Patterson tells me only of one 
occurrence to the north of Begent Boad, and that but just over ; 
while to the south they are fairly common, and, as he says, have 
been for the last twenty years or more, though they seem to have 
increased of late. Mr. Patterson has given much time to their 
observation, and tells me that he knew of them when quite a lad. 
He says they seem most partial to malt-houses, and that the old 
houses in that portion of the town where they abound, many of 
them wainscotted, seem most admirably adapted to their use. He 
says that Cats both catch and eat them, but their holes are, as 
a rule, too small for Ferrets to enter, so they cannot be killed in 
that way. 
At the recent meeting of the Yarmouth section of our Society, 
of which Mr. Patterson is such an admirable secretary, lie exhibited 
what looked very much like a cross between the Black and Brown 
Bat, but it was only half-grown, and I have a great mistrust of 
immature specimens for purposes of comparison. 
I feel that our thanks are very greatly due to Mr. Patterson for 
the way in which ho has brought another most interesting question 
before our Society and the public at large. — J. T. Hotblack. 
I * DEC. 9 8 
