Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/306

Rh R A T R A T tion is milder and more tamable than that of M. decu- manus, and it is therefore the species to which the tame white and pied rats kept as pets commonly belong. It is said that in some parts of Germany M. rattus has been lately reasserting itself and increasing at the expense of .]/. decumanus, but this seems very unlikely from the pre- vious history of the two animals (compare MOUSE, vol. xvii. p. 5). The brown or Norway rat, M. decumamis, is a heavily built animal, growing to 8 or 9 inches in length, with a bluff rounded head, small ears (see fig., B), and a com- paratively short tail, always shorter than the head and body combined, and generally not longer than the body alone. Its colour is a uniform greyish brown above, and white below, the ears, feet, and tail being flesh-coloured ; melanistic varieties are by no means rare, and these are often mistaken for true black rats, but the differences in size and proportions form a ready means of distinguishing the two. The brown rat is believed to be a native of western China, where a wild race has been recently dis- covered so like it as to be practically indistinguishable. The two species agree fully in their predaceous habits, omnivorous diet, and great fecundity. They bear four or five times in the year from four to ten blind and naked young, which are in their turn able to breed at an age of about six months. The time of gestation is about twenty days. (o. T.) RATAFIA is a term applied to a flavouring essence, the basis of which is the essential oil of bitter almonds. Peach kernels are properly the source of ratafia, but any of the other substances yielding bitter almond oil is used. The name " ratafia " is also applied in France to a variety of liquors, and from Dantzic a special liqueur is sent out under the name of " ratafia " (see vol. xiv. p. 686). RATEL. The animals known as Ratels or Honey- badgers are small clumsy-looking creatures of about the size and appearance of the true badgers, and belong to the same natural group of the Camivora, namely, the subfamily Melimz of the large family Mustelidx, which contains the otters, badgers, stoats, weasels, &c. (see MAMMALIA, vol. xv. p. 440). Of the ratels two species are generally recognized, viz., the Indian Ratel (Mellivora indica), a African Ratel (Mdliwra ratel). native of all the peninsula of India, and the African (M. ratel), which ranges over the whole of the African continent although by some authors the West African race is con- sidered to represent a third distinct species, which has been named 3f. leuconota. All the ratels are of very much the same colour, namely, iron-grey on the upper parts of the head, body, and tail, and black below, a style of colora- tion rather rare among mammals, as the upper side of the body is in the great majority darker than the lower. Their body is stout and thickly built ; the legs are short and strong, and armed, especially on the anterior pair, with long curved fossorial claws ; the tail is short ; and the ear-conches are reduced to mere rudiments. These modi- fications are all in relation to a burrowing mode of life, for which the ratels are among the best adapted of all carnivores. The skull is conical, stout, and heavy, and the teeth, although sharper and less rounded than those of their allies the badgers, are yet far less suited to a purely carnivorous diet than those of such typical Mustelidx as the stoats, weasels, and martens. The two species of ratel may be distinguished by the fact that the African has a distinct white line round the body at the junction of the grey of the upper side with the black of the lower, while in the Indian this line is absent ; the teeth also of the former are on the whole decidedly larger, rounder, and heavier than those of the latter. In spite of these dif- ferences, however, the two ratels are so nearly allied that they might almost be considered to be merely geographical races of a single widely spread species. The following account of the Indian ratel is extracted from Dr Judson's Mammals of India: "The Indian badger is found throughout the whole of India, from the extreme south to the foot of the Himalayas, chiefly in hilly districts, where it lias greater facilities for constructing the holes and dens in which it lives ; but also in the north of India in alluvial plains, where the banks of large rivers afford equally suitable localities wherein to make its lair. It is stated to live usually in pairs, and to eat rats, birds, frogs, white ants, and various insects, and in the north of India it is accused of digging out dead bodies, and is popularly known as the grave-digger. It doubtless also, like its Cape congener, occa- sionally partakes of honey. It is often very destructive to poultry, and I have known of several having been trapped and killed whilst committing such depredations in Central India and in the northern Circars. In confinement the Indian badger is quiet and will par- take of vegetable food, fruits, rice, &c." ' (0. T. ) RATHENOW, a small town of Prussia in the province of Brandenburg, lies on the right bank of the Havel, 44 miles to the west of Berlin. It is known for its " Rathenow stones," i.e., bricks made of the clay of the Havel, and for its spectacles and optical instruments, which are exported to various parts of the world. It contains no buildings of note. The population in 1880 was 11,394, including 174 Roman Catholics and 68 Jews. Rathenow has enjoyed the privileges of a town since 1217. In 1394 it was taken and partly destroyed by the archbishop of Magdeburg. During the Thirty Years' War it was repeatedly occupied by the opposing troops, and in 1675 it was cleverly snatched from the Swedish garrison by the Great Elector. RATIBOR (Polish Raciborz), a town of Prussian Silesia in the department of Oppeln, is pleasantly situated on the left bank of the Oder at the point where the river becomes navigable, about 12 miles from the Austrian frontier. The most prominent buildings are the handsome court- house by Schinkel and the Modern Gothic church ; on the right bank of the Oder is the old chateau of the dukes of Ratibor. The town is the seat of a diversified industry, the chief products of which are machinery and railway gear, iron wares, tobacco and cigars, paper, sugar, furni- ture, and glass. Trade is carried on in these articles and in agricultural produce, and hemp and vegetables are largely grown in the environs. The population in 1880 was 18,373, or, including the immediately adjacent villages, 27,100, five-sixths of whom are Roman Catholics. In the town itself, where there are only about 2500 Poles, German is chiefly spoken, but Polish and Czechish dialects are predominant in the neighbourhood. Ratibor, which received municipal privileges at the close of tlie 13th century, was formerly the capital of an independent duchy,