THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
5i5 
long and black, ears very large, and tbe thumb rudimentary. It came origi¬ 
nally from Egypt and Nubia, thence passed to Italy and Spain, and from the 
last to America in the fifteenth century; it is common in Mexico and Brazil, 
and in the Southern States, but is rarely found above North Carolina; it 
is fond of inhabiting the thatched roofs of houses, whence its name ; it is the 
same as the mus alexandrinns and mus americanus. 
The Giant Rat of Bengal and the Coromandel Coast Rats (M. 
giganteus , Raffles ) have bodies thirteen inches long and tails as much more; 
they are very destructive in gardens and granaries, devouring chickens 
and ducksr, undermining houses, and piercing the mud walls; they are 
the largest of the sub-family, a male weighing as much as three pounds; 
it is often eaten by the lower caste Hindoos. All these rats are fond of fight¬ 
ing, and with their omnivorous habits are decided cannibals, eating not only 
their conquered brethren, 
but also their own 
young. Though living 
in the filthiest places 
and in the foulest air, 
they always have a sleek 
coat, and take the great¬ 
est pains to clean them¬ 
selves, licking their paws 
in the manner of a cat; 
during mastication the 
jaws move very rapidly ; 
they drink by lapping ; 
when asleep the body is 
coiled in a ball, with the 
nose between the hind 
legs and the tail curled 
around the outside, leav¬ 
ing only the ears out 
ready to catch the least sound of danger; as 
food fails they migrate in companies from 
one place to another. 
There are more muscles in a rat’s 
tail than in the human hand; this most 
useful appendage with its chain of movable bones and its numerous muscles is 
covered with minute scales and short stiff hairs, making it prehensile and 
capable of being used as a hand, a balancer or a projecting spring. The teeth 
are long and sharp, but there is nothing specially dangerous in a wound made 
by them; their strength enables them to gnaw ivory, as dealers in this article 
well know; in fact, even in Africa, elephants’ tusks are found gnawed by rats, 
squirrels, porcupines, and perhaps by other rodents, as long as any gelatine 
can be found in them. These animals are greatly subject to tumors of the 
skin, which often end fatally; they also soon perish without water. Persecuted 
as these animals are, they have their uses, especially as scavengers for devour¬ 
ing refuse matter, which would otherwise engender disease in tropical climates 
or in large cities, in whose sewers they live in legions. Their skins are em- 
MUSK DEER, MACQUB, FLYING FOX AND 
HORNED OR RHINOCEROS BIRD. 
