This terror, however, did not last so long as the evil of the mice, for the rats, probably not finding sufficient food when together, scattered abroad, and were destroyed singly by the cats and dogs, who slew them by thousands, far more than they could afterwards eat, so that the carcases were left to decay.

It is said that, overcome with hunger, these armies of rats in some cases fell upon each other, and fed on their own kindred.

They are still numerous, but do not appear to do the same amount of damage as is occasionally caused by the mice, when the latter invade the cultivated lands.
The dogs, of course, like the cats, were forced by starvation into the fields, where they perished in incredible numbers.

Of many species of dogs which are stated to have been plentiful among the ancients, we have now nothing but the name.

The poodle is extinct, the Maltese terrier, the Pomeranian, the Italian greyhound, and, it is believed, great numbers of crosses and mongrels have utterly disappeared.