RAT. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. 
Two cutting teeth in each jaw. 
Four toes before ; five behind. 
Tail slender; naked, or with very few hairs. 
ECONOMIC RAT. 
SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 
Mus ceconomicus. M. cauda subsesquiunciali, auriculis nudis in 
vellere molli latentibus, palmis subtetra- 
dactylis, corpore fosco. Linn. Syst. Nat. 
Gmel. 1 . p. 134. 
Short tail, ears naked and hid in the fur, body 
of a tawny colour, three toes on each of the 
fore-feet. 
(Economic Rat. . Penn. Arctic Zool. p. 134. Shaw Gen. Zool. 
pi. 134. 
The manners of the common rat are too well known 
to need any comment ; but the habits of this little 
creature are so curious and interesting, that they 
well deserve to be noticed. Mr. Pennant, who has 
given us a very satisfactory account of these ani- 
mals, says that they inhabit Siberia in vast abun- 
