SENDS A BARREL OF RATS. 
[ Washington Star.] 
Word lias been received at the National | 
I Museum that a barrel of rats lias been 
shipped to this institution from Manila. 
They are coming in “pickle." 
Some months ago rats were very numer- | 
ous In Manila and the surrounding parts j 
of Luzon, and many c^f diem were affected 
with a disease which was sometimes com¬ 
municated to man. The danger of a wide-l 
spread pestilence induced the health au-| 
iboritios to offer a bounty of half a. cen*.I 
i gold.) for each rat brought in. The nativesj 
set to work with a will, killing, trapping 
and snaring ra.ts, and the result was thatl 
several thousand wore received daily foil 
several -weeks by the Health Department, f 
About this time Major Bdgar A. Mearns^ 
a surgeon in the United States army and 
an enthusiastic naturalist and collector, ai-i 
lived in Manila and became attached to the! 
Board of Public Health. He soon perceived! 
that not all of the animals brought in were I 
common house rats, but that many of them! 
had considerable scientific value and that! 
some belonged to species wholly unknown! 
to naturalists. An empty whlsky t barrel! 
was obtained and partially filled with for- 1 
maliri. and for several weeks Dr. Meaxnsl 
spent his leisure hour in sorting over rats, I 
preserving those which were of value ini 
the barrel of formalin. This was filled ini 
time and has been shipped to the National! 
Museum through the Quartermaster Gen- 1 
eral’s Department of the army. Its ar-| 
rival is awaited with a good deal of inter¬ 
est by the mammalogists of the museum, I 
as it will undoubtedly contain the most! 
complete collection of the small mammals! 
of the Manila district that has ever been| 
made in the Philippine Islands. 
