NEWSPAPER CLIPPIN 
FURNISHED BY THE 
American Press Information Bureau. 
WORLD BUILDING, NEW YORK. ! 
I i i/Yd 
The World's Greatest Kat Catcher. 
The scientists of the ya.tjflji.al Museum 
are elated over the receipt atTliarTnsti- 
tution of the largest collection of rats in 
the world. This collection is the result of 
efforts extending over many years by Sur¬ 
geon Edgar Meabxs of the army.‘ it is 
said that no members of the rat family have 
been overlooked by the surgeon in iiis de¬ 
sire to give to the United States the 
proud distinction of possessing the largest 
and most complete collection of rats on 
earth. | 
There are rats from the tropics, from 
the Orient, from the far north, and of al¬ 
most every known species. Some are water 
rats, some mountain rats, some field rats 
and some tree rats. There are rats from 
mines, from ships, from factories and from 
caves. There are a number of peculiar ones 
from Sumatra and the East Indies, several 
from the Philippines, and, naturally, the 
edible variety from China. The variations 
m size, color, habits and intelligence are 
carefully described," and if there are any 
points concerning rats that Surgeon 
Mearns has neglected to elucidate nobody 
knows what they are. 
-No doubt the surgeon deserves grea 
credit for his sen ices to science, and he has 
giieri a highly striking and original illus- 
tration of the truth of the saying that thcr 
accounting for tastes. 
