Distribution of the Black Rat (Mus rattus, Linn.) in Italy

Abstract

IT may interest the readers of NATURE to know that the black rat is very abundant and widely distributed in Italy and her islands. In the Central Collection of Italian Vertebrata which I have founded in the Florence Zoological Museum, I have a large series of specimens from no less than fifteen localities, viz., Domodossola, Casale, Florence, Radda, Arezzo, Castelfalfi, Lecce on the continent, Bastia (Corsiea), Cagliari (Sardinia), Castelbuono Madonie (Sicily), and from the islands of Elba, Pianosa, Montecristo, Giglio, and Lipari. On the smaller islands the larger M. decumanus does not exist at all, but elsewhere the two species live side by side. In the Florence Museum we have M. decumanus in the cellars, and M. ratius upstairs. This proves that the black rat is very far indeed from extinction with us; I should say that it is generally more abundant in Italy than its larger congener, at least such is my experience.