GREAT RAT. 
39 
Its colour is whitish, with a cast of grey ferru- 
ginous on the back, and of cinereous on the abdo- 
men ; the tail is longish, nearly naked, scaly, and 
obtuse at the extremity. A variety of this animal 
is found in the American islands, which seems to 
differ from the above, in being of a darker colour 
on the back, and in having a much shorter tail. 
Perhaps it may be a distinct species ; but the his- 
tory of both seems, at present, not sufficiently 
clear, to enable us to determine this point. 
Great rat. 
The animal best known at present, and . in every 
respect the most mischievous, is the great rat % 
which, though but a new comer into this country* 
has taken too secure a possession to be ever re- 
moved. This hateful and rapacious creature, 
though sometimes called the rat of Norway, ap- 
pears to be utterly unknown in ail the northern 
countries, and comes originally from India and 
Persia. Its first arrival was upon the coasts of 
Ireland, in those ships that traded in provisions to 
Gibraltar ; and perhaps we owe to a single pair of 
these animals, the numerous progeny that now in- 
fests the whole extent of the British empire. 
This animal, which is called by M, BufFon the 
surmalot, is in length about nine inches ; its eyes 
are large and black ; the colour of the head, and 
the whole upper part of the body, is of a light 
brown, mixed with a tawny and ash colour. The 
end of the nose, the throat and belly, are of a 
dirty white, inclining to grey ; the feet and legs 
are almost bare, and of a dirty pale flesh colour ; 
the tail is as long as the body, covered with minute 
dusky scales, mixed with a few hairs, and adds to 
the general deformity of its detestable figure. It 
is chiefly in the colour that this animal differs from 
