common species upon the contents of our larders
and pantries are but too extensively known; and
the carnivorous voracity of the Brown Rat is shown in a very striking and even revolting manner in the horse slaughter-houses at Paris, where the carcases of the horses killed in the course of a day, sometimes amounting to thirty-five, are during the night picked to the bare bones
by these creatures. They also attack with ferocity and devour any small animals they can master; and have sanguine encounters among themselves.
The fertility of the Mice is very great; so that, notwithstanding the incessant warfare waged on them by man in various ways, they baffle all his efforts to extirpate them. They have been carried, in their intrusive and unwelcome state of semi-domestication, wherever civilized man has established his domain; so that it is now difficult to ascertain the original residence of these our most common vermin. Other species, however, are very numerous, and are found over the whole globe: especially in South America.
Genus Mus. (Linn.)
In this, the typical genus of the Family above described, we find the incisors of the usual number, the upper ones wedge-shaped, the lower compressed and pointed; three molars on each side, both above and below; the fore one the largest, the hind one the smallest. The muzzle is pointed, and more or less lengthened ; the ears oblong or rounded, frequently very large, and almost naked. The limbs are short, and of the
