; 
eal 
THK ANGOLA MUNGOOSE, 249 
India with some of the species inhabiting that country. Not 
only so, but Mungooses have been introduced into the West 
Indies for the purpose of killing the Rats that were at one time 
playing havoc with the sugar-canes; but although the expert- 
ment has been successful, it has been very fatal to several 
kinds of birds. The common Indian Mungoose, which bur- 
rows holes for itself, produces from three to four young ina 
litter; and, like the other species, is commonly found either 
singly or in pairs. Although these animals are naturally fierce 
and bloodthirsty, they can be readily tamed, when they form 
gentle and affectionate little pets, without the ill-odour which 
renders the Civets so objectionable. 
Mungooses are deadly enemies to Snakes, attacking even 
the most venomous kinds with general impunity, although if 
severely bitten, they die like other animals. Probably they 
owe this immunity to their extreme activity, although they are, 
probably, less susceptible to Snake-venom than other Mammals. 
Ill, THE ANGOLA MUNGOOSE, HERPESTES ANGOLENSIS. 
flerpestes angolensis, Bocage, Journ. Sci. Lisb. ser. 2, vol. ii. 
Pp. 32 (1890). 
Characters.—Ciosely allied to the two preceding. The dark 
brown pelage, speckled with rufous, approximates this form to 
ff. tchneumon, but its size is larger, and the tail considerably 
longer ; characters by which it is equally well distinguished 
from 4. cafer. The rufous rings on the hairs are decidedly 
narrower than in H. ichneumon. The muzzle, chin, fore-legs, 
and feet are deep black; the remainder of the pelage speckled 
with rufous on a blackish-brown ground. The proximal fifth 
of the tail is covered with long brown hairs ringed with rufous ; 
in the remainder of the tail, except the black tip, the hairs are 
short and uniformly bright rufous. 
Distribution, West Africa (Angola), 
