The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1904-02-02
KING OF THE RATS"
An Extraordinary Nest Of RATS Discovered
Mt tho I,utto,n of h We'll.

An Extraordinary Nest of RATS Discovered
| at tho bottom of h Well.
An extraordinary nest of rats was
recently discovered at the bottom of
an old we'll in Courtalain, hamlet in
France, the peculiar feature about the
animals being the fact that seven OF
them were Joined together by their
tails in such a manner that 1t was i'm
possible for them to free themselves.
The tips of the seven tails were, in
/ fact, knotted together and formed a
centre from whicn radiated the bodleo
! OF the an;-oGls. M. Henri Lecomte OBJ
tanned possession Of these curious ami
! mails end presented them to the Mu-
scum at Chateaudun, and M. Henri
Rieber, lawyer of that town. made a
photograph OF the rats and sent a copy
of it to M. Oustalet, who has written
an interesting account OF the pheno-
menon for the current issue Of La Ma
ture.
According to Brehm, the well known
naturalist, there was for a long time
popular notion that the King of the
Rats belongs to animals who are united
in this way. Many peruons used to
believe" he says, that the king OF rats
wearing the golden crown, eits en-
throned above a group OF intertwined
rats, and from this throne exercises
sway over his entire empire. 1t is cer-
tain that more than once rats have
been found to be united by their tails,
and in every such CAGE, since they were
unable to provide for themselves, they
have been fed by their companions. The
cause Of this curious phenomenon Is
unknown, but the supposition Is that
1t is some viscous substance which ex-
udes from the tails and joins them %
gether. A king Of rats composed of
twenty-seyen animals is preserved at
Altenbourg, and other specimens have
been discovered at Bonn, Schnepfen-
thai, Frankfort, Erfurth and at Linde-
nau, near Leipsic."
The specimen at Lindenau was dis
covered near q mill by little boy on
January IL, 1774. 1t consisted Of six
teen rats, of which fifteen we're Joined
together by their tails, while the six
teenth was held fast to the group
through bis tail becoming entangled
with the body Of one of its compan-
ions. The boy noticed the nest at some
height from the ground, and with a
blow Of his hatchet, brought it down.
Though the fall was considerable, not
a single rat became detached from the
others, and all OF them lived for some
time. The boy naturally looked upon
the rats as his property, but painter
who happened to see them, and who ap-
parently had some title to the mill
property, also claimed them, the re-
suit being thai q lawsuit was begun,
which is chiefly memorable because it
ELECTED sor,e interesting testimony
from q physician who had been in
structed by the court to examine the
rats and to make a report in regard to
them. He testified that the animals
were Of normal structure, but of diff
ferent dimensions and color, the lat
ter varying from light gray to deep
black, and that they were probably Of
different ages and sexes.
As to the manner In which their
tails became Joined together, he ad-
|. vanced an ingenious theory. During
the recent very cold weather. he said
the animals doubtless huddled into a
corner, with the object of getting all
the warmth they could, and turned
their heads toward the spot which was
the most free from cold. While in this
, position the tips of their tails would
naturally become soiled, and would
be exposed to the frost, the inevitable
result being that they would become
. firmly matted together.
In support of this hypothesis It may
! be said that every discovery OF so
, called king of rats" has been made
, during cold weather. Thus two kings
were discovered near Gotha in Decem-
ber, 1922, one consisting Of twenty
eight and the other Of fourteen ami
L. -txun &c n