THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 95 



AN OPEN SEASON FOR THE MONGOOSE. 



By Kkeuehick Maskew. 



The illustration af'ooinpaiiyin<r this article is a plioto^raph of a mon- 

 goose. To the best of our personal knowledf^e antl belief it is the only 

 mongoose in California, and much to our comfort it is dead; also, it is 

 stuffed, which is still better for purposes of observation and photog- 

 raphy. Tlie object of this article is partly educational and partly to 

 complete the records of the Horticultural Quarantine Division. The 

 educational feature will be accomplished if the impression made upon 

 the retina of those who look ujxin this illustration remains fixed and 

 available for reference and comparison at such times as they feel im- 

 pelled to give i)ublicity to theii' illusions that a mongoose is loose in 

 California, and start the quarantine inspectors out on a wildgoose 

 rather than a mongoose chase. The mongoose has often — in other 

 countries — been indirectly connected with pui-poses of horticulture, but 

 in this instance it wjis directly connected with the same in that the 

 horticultural statutes of the State provide for its exclusion. The 

 quarantine inspectors, to whom the language of the statute is both the 

 law and the gospel, upon hearing that a mongoose was loose, followed 





Fig. 40. — The Mongoose iHeiyestes munuo). (Photo by L. A. Whitney.) 



the matter to a conclusion. As no ju-ovision is made in the official 

 reports of the division for such occurrences, the same not being horti- 

 cultural imports, this article is necessary to comi)lete the record of the 

 transactions. 



Through the courtesy of Professor Warren T. Clark we received a 

 letter signed by i\Ir. Eugene Pence, dated January 27, 1915, calling 

 attention to an article published in a San Francisco newspaper of the 

 same date, which set forth that a mongoose had escaped from its owner 

 in Fruitvale and was at liberty in California. The letter dwelt at 

 length on the disastrous results that had invariably followed the intro- 

 duction of the mongoose into other countries, and with a clear knowledge 

 of these facts ourselves we desire to herewith officially thank ]\[r. Pence 



