Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-16

Kat o'-CuriOus Facts About Rats
 and Their Habits-The Black and
 Brown Rats-Rats Among the An
 cients.
 [From ths Troy Daily Times.l
 We have received the following question from "A constant reader of the Times :"ssWho IS the author of the expression I smell rat?"' Quoth Hudibras "I smell < rat" Ralpho, thou dost prevaricata.
 -H~dibrac, Part I |, canto l.
 The expression occurs also in the ssTaIe of Tub, act 4, scene g. Sir Boyle Roche got oil, in the British Parliament, his celebrated speech containing the following mixed meta. phor MT. Speaker-I smell a rat I see him floating in the air; but mark me. I shall vet nip him in the bud'
 RATS AND THEIR HABITS.
 Rats and their habits is not a very impor- tant subject, but may be interesting to some of the readers of the Times The most inn portant of the rRs species are the Norway or brown rat, M. decumanus, and the black rat M. rattus. The brown rat is known all over the world, and is very destructive in it's hab it's. It belonged originally to Central Asia Crossing the Volga in large troops in 1737, it stocked Russia and subsequently, overran all Europe. The original locality of the black rat is unknown It has been the house rat of Europe from earliest times and was introduc- ed into America in 1544. The brown rat ap- Ponho0 III llio dDOuG IQ0 p0rlOQ or our revolutionary war, and has increased with great rapidity, having almost, if not entirely, exterminated the black rat.
 FECUNDITY OF RATS
 Hats begin to breed at two or three months old, and will have six eight filters a year, Of eight young ones each on an average Were there no natural hindrances to their muItipli- cation, one pair would increase to no less than six thousand in single year, and this if they bred only once in two months There is, how ever, one way in which they are destroyed by wholesale, for not only will rats devour the weakly and sick of their species as soon as they are unable to defend themselves, but if very hard pressed by hunger, as they doubt less often are, they will eat their young. The destruction by cats, dogs and men is as gen. eral thing inconsderable. The very happy results, often attributed to the use of dogs and cats are usually due to the rats having multiplied so as to overstock the premises at the time their foes are introduced, when they scatter, em1grating, as is their instinct in fam flies to other localities. The number of rats in any single locality is almost always under estimated. They live in families, and send out scouts and spies, which are the only rats seen, unless great pains are taken, and a per son remains quietly upon the watch from ear ly in the evening, so that he is neither seen or heard. Then they are often seen in scores and often fierce battles are witnessed. The rat does not see very well by day, being nocturnal animal, but his hearing and sense of smell are very acute. A rat will never jump higher than thirty inches, but will climb rough walls, posts, etc., easily.
 SOCIAL LIFE IN RATS.
 The rat is eminently 8 social animal Wheresoever man goes, the rat follows or ac companies him. City or country is equally agreeable to him. He enters into your house as tenant-at-will, (his own, not your, works out for himself a covered way in your walls, ascends by it from one story to another, and leaving you the larger apartments take pos session of the space between floor and ceiling as an entresol for himself. There he has his parties and his revels, and his gallopades (merry ones they are) when you would be asleep If it were not for the spirit with which the youth and bellies of Ratland keep up the ball over your head. Sometimes the rat pre- pares for himself mausoleum behind your chimney piece or under your hearth-stone, and retires into it when he is about to die, and very soon affords you full proof that though he may have lived like a hermit, his relics are not in the door of sanctity.
 RATS AMONG THE ANc1ENTs.
 The Egyptians and Phrygians defied rats. The people of Bassora and Cambray to the present time forbid their destruction. In Egypt the rat symbolized 'sutter destruction;" it also symbolized judgment" because rats always choose the best bread for their repast. Pliny tells us that the Romans drew presages from these animals, and to see a white rat foreboded good fortune. The bucklers at Lannvium being gnawed by rats presaged ill., fortune, and the battle of the Marses, fought soon after, confirmed this superstition. Pros erpine's veil was embroidered with rats
 It was once prevalent opinion that rats could be extirpated by anathematizing them in rhyming verse or by metrical charms. This notion is frequently alluded to by an cient authors. Thus Ben Johnson says: Rhyme them to death, as they do Irish rats;'' and Shakespeare makes Rosalind say, q was never so berhymed since I was an Irish rat,' alluding to the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls.
 Apollo received the aristocratic sobriquet of s'rat killer" from the following incident: Crinis, one of his priests, having neglected his official duties, he sent against him a swarm of rats; but the priest, seeing the invaders coming, repented and obtained forgiveness of the god, who annihilated the swarms which he had sent with his far-darting arrows. For this redoubtable exploit, the sun god received the appellation of Apollo, the Rat-killer."
 Comparatively few rats are poisoned, but their actions alarm others and when the poi soned ones run away it brings on 8 general flight, so that often not single rat is left Strange noises as the discharge of firearms or wideawake terrier, will cause stampede of rats phosphorus paste causes them espe- cial discomfort, and is efficient in driving them away.