Jasper County Democrat, Volume 18, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1915 — Rats. [ARTICLE]

Rats.

With the approach of cold weather and a lessening of the "supply of food in the open (here will soon be found

evidence that our dwellings have been invaded by rats. We shall soon heat a clatter of pans in the pantry, squeals from the cellar (whether of fight or play we may not know.) and a scurrying of feet when we visit the attic. Rats! The rat most common in the L nited States is the brown rat, usually, but erroneously, called the Norway rat. Its color i§ grayish brown above and ashy white below, with feet du.-’y white. This rat, cariled on ships, has been distributed all over the world. Originally a native oi Persia and of India, it is said to have entered Europe through Russia about I 725, and was brought to America about the opening of the Revolutionary war in vessels conveying British and Hessian troops. That this rat abounds in such enormous numbers is due to the fact that the female has from three to five litters a year of 1 0 to 12 a: a litter: The first foreign rat to appear in America made its way here from Europe about 154 4. It was the black rat, the native habitat of which was Central Asia. White rats of jins species, albinos, are not uncommon. It was the common house rat until driven off by the brown rat. The tail of the rat naturalists declare to be a .wonderful appendage; it has more muscles than the human hand; peri forms all the functions of a hand, is a balancer and serves as a spring to aid in jumping.—lndianapolis News.