The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-03-12
QUEER FACTS ABOUT RATS.
Their Wonderful Tails-Thelr Fine
Judgment as TO Ivory.

From the Washington Post.

more muscles 60 this curious appendage
than are to be found in that part Of the
human anatomy which is most admired for
its ingenius structure-nanlsly, the hand.
To the rat, in fact. Its tail serves as a sort of
hand, by means OF which the animal is en-
ablsd to awl along narrow lodges, using it
TO balance with or gain a hold. IL is pre-
hense, like the tails Of some monkeys. By
means OF 1t the little beast can jump up
nights otherwiEe inaccessible, employing it
as projectile spring,
IL has often been said that the glove
makers OF Paris make use in their trade of
the skins OF rats that are caught in the
sewers, but this has been denied. Certainly
the material would not be Strong enough
successfully to counterfeit the kid. unless it
were for the thumb part only, which Is
generally Of a thinner and different kind of
leather from the rest
Suggestion has been made that a trade
might be opened with the Chinese for the
skins OF the rats which they eat
A thrifty W elshman at one time exhibited
himself publicly Ia England, attired in a
costume composed from top to toe Of rat
skins. which he had spent three years and q
half In collecting. The dress was made en-
tirely by himself It consisted Of hat neck
erchief, coat, waistcoat, trousers, tippet,
CATERS and shoes. The number OF rats res
quired TO complete the suit was $40. Most
curious of the garments was the tippet,
composed entirely Of rat tails.
At one time batch of several thousand
rat skins were imported from France into
England for manufacturing purposes. but
they were found too small and too fine in
texture to be useful.
DR.. auckland says that many OF the elo-
plants tusks brought to London for the use
OF workers in ivory are observed to have
their surfaces grooved into small burrows of
unequal depth. as though cut out by a very
sharp-edged instrument This Is done by
rats, which are fond of the gelatine or ami
NAL glue in the substance. The ivory cutter
selects for his purposes by preference those
tusks which have been gnawed In this way,
because they are the ones which contain the
most gelatine, and are, therefore, the best
in material.
Curiously enough the trade, while giving
this much recognition to the rats work, has
not recognized him as the author OF it, the
common belief IN the business being that
the ivory has been thus Rnawed bv alli-
gators. How IL is imagined that allegators
get chance to chew elephants tusks is
problem.
Rats are remarkably intelligent animals,
as may be preceived from the difficulty that
is experienced in catching them. They can
be taught many tricks. Among other
things it is possible to make them learn how
to beg, to jump through a hoop, to drag a
little cart i'll harness, and to carry sticks or
money.
Ra,s have never found favor as a delioacy
for the table in Europe or in this country,
but in many lands they are relished as an
article of diet. The negro slaves in Jamaica
used to regard them as a dainty, their mas
ters not providing them with any other
meat. Their method of cooking the foot u
some rodents was to impale each one GA
long wooden skewer, after cleaning the ami
NAL and cutting of the tail. turning it
priskly round over the fire until the hair
was all burned off. Then it Was scraped
until 1t was free from fur, and finally the
end Of the skewer was stuck into he groun |,
inclined toward the fire until it was toasted
dry and crisp, thus being made ready for
the meal.
Rats may commonly be seen for sale In
the markets or any Chinese town, split and
pressed under heavy weight, so at % ok
somewhat like dried fish. In t lis shape tn,
pig-tailed Oriental buys them, st axis the
in water. and then bolls, roasS or IrIes
them.
When the French Zouaves were first in
Africa new sort OF rat made It's appear
oace there IL was called the trumpet
rat" having long proboscis. The sale OF
a specimen by one OF the soldiers to an en-
thuslastIc naturalist gave rise to an action
at law. Said the plaintiff in court:
This zouave has cheated me out OF 100
francs He knows that am much inter
ested In natural science. l have collections
of fossils, Of shells, OF rare animals, OF Gu
rious plants. One day he called upon me
and said Sir, l have kind OF animal
which has never been mentioned by any
naturalist. it 10 trumpet rat, and has
trunk like an elephaut's. IL is alive and
well; IL you wish to see it you have only to
come to my house. usS;s
81 was very anxious to behold this
strange animal. We arrived at his house,
aud he showed me in a cage an enormous
rat, very lively and in good condition.
which really had on his nose a slender exe-
crescence more than an inch in length. The
execrescence was covered with hair like the
body OF the animal, with vertebrB in it,
and 10 most extraordinary thing larger at
the summit than at the base-the contrary
to what it ought TO be in the usual course of
things. To convince myself that it Was not
q dupe and q mystihcation l stuck pin
into the trumpet. The animal cried out,
and drop Of blood came from the prick.
The experiment was conclusive. 1t was
really a trumpet, forming part Of the rat.
81 was amazed. | asked this man il he
would sell his rat. He said YES, and l paid
him 5Ofrancs for 1t. My friends and SER
wants all admired it, and | was enchanted.
My rat was a male. Some one said to me
that ought to procure a female | asked
the zouave il he could procure me female,
ard he said he had two. / saw them and
bought one Of them for so francs. Some
months after the female had young.
looked at them and they had no trumpets.
| said to myself: They will sprout.'
waited one month, two months, SIX months.
Every day looked at the noses of the rats,
but the trumpets never appeared.
tIn a house where l go frequently made
the acquaintance of an officer who had
served a long time in Africa. told him
about my trumpet rats, and he laughed as
though his sides would split. When he was
calm again he told me that the trumpet
was not freak of nature, but an invention
due TO the leisure moments of tbs zouaves.
This is how they make them:
"You take two rats and fasten their paws
to board, the nose OF one close TO the tail
of the otner. Then with penknife or a
lancet you make an incision into the nose of
the rat which is hindermost and graft the
tail of the first into the nose; you tie firmly
the muZzle TO the tail and you leave the
two rats in this position for forty-eight
hours. AT the end of that time the union
has taken place and the rats are grown to-
gether; then you cut of the tail Of the rat
which is in front 20 the required length and
let them go, but still keep the other fastened
to the board with his head loose, and give
him something to eat. At the end OF a
fortnight the wound is perfectly healed, and
the eye of the curious Investigator would
not see trace of theigrafting. This Is the
way the zouaves make rats with trumpsts"
n NhA Of thn dafa