s mouth, while another rat had
hold of the other end of it, and thus conducted his blind companion."

The amount of destructive force possessed by rats, cannot be better
exemplified than in the report given to the French Government, relating
to the removal of the horse slaughter-houses, situated at Montfaucon, to
a greater distance from Paris; one great objection being the disastrous
consequences which might accrue to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood,
if these voracious creatures were suddenly deprived of their usual
sustenance. It is well known, that the mischief which they occasion is
not confined to what they eat; but they undermine houses, burrow through
dams, destroy drains, and commit incalculable havoc, in every place and
in every thing.

The report states, that the carcases of horses killed one day, and
amounting to thirty-five, would be found the next morning with the bones
picked clean. A person of the name of Dusaussois, belonging to the
establishment, made this experiment. A part of his yard was enclosed by
solid walls, at the foot of which, several holes were made for the
entrance and exit of the rats. Into this enclosure he put the bodies of
three horses, and in the middle of the night he stopped up all the holes
as quietly as he could; he then summoned several of his workmen, and
each, armed with a torch and a stick, entered the yard, and carefully
closed the door. They then commenced a general massacre; in doing
which, it was not necessary to take aim, for wherever the blow fell, it
was sure to knock over a rat, none being allowed to escape by climbing
over the walls. This experiment was repeated at intervals of a few days,
and at the end of a month, 16,050 rats had been destroyed. In one night
they killed 2,650; and yet this cannot give an entirely adequate idea of
their number, for the yard in question did not cover more than a
twentieth part of the space allotted to killing horses. The rats in this
place have made burrows for themselves, like catacombs; and so great is
their number, that they have not found room close by the
slaughter-houses. They have gone farther; and the paths to and from
their dwellings may be traced across the neighbouring fields.

The Zoological Gardens in the Regent's Park, are greatly infested by
rats; but they are too cunning to stay there during the day time, when
they might be more easily caught; so they in the morning cross the canal
to the opposite shore, and return