"Pharoe's Mouse." 297 



for the safeguard of mankind, which in those 

 countries where these noisome beasts are bred, 

 hath provided such an enemy to destroy them, 

 both eggs and birds, as is friendly and tameable 

 by the hand and wit of man." 



This reference to the tameableness of the animal 

 is perfectly correct; indeed, mungooses are as 

 they have doubtless been from time immemorial 

 often kept in a semi-domesticated state to clear 

 houses of vermin, such as snakes, rats, and mice, 

 and a tame mungoose is as fascinating, but withal 

 as bloodthirsty, a pet as can well be desired, 

 and we should not advise any one who takes an 

 interest in his poultry-yard to attempt to keep 

 one. Bennett, in his " Tower Menagerie," gave 

 the following instance of the rat-killing power of 

 the mungoose: " The individual now in the 

 Tower actually on one occasion killed no fewer 

 than a dozen full-grown rats, which were loosed; 

 to it in a room sixteen feet square, in less than 

 a minute and a half." 



The mungooses, or ichneumons, belong to the 

 family Viverridce, which also includes the Crypto- 

 procta, the Genets, and the Suricate, specimens 

 of all of which can be seen in the " Small Cats' 

 House " at the Zoo. There are a large number 

 of species, the best known being the Egyptian 

 ichneumon (Herpestes ichneumon), the Phaioe's 

 mouse of the ancients, about which the wonder- 

 ful stories were told, and the grey or Indian 

 ichneumon (H. griseus), the best known of all. 



