?98 "fharoe's . Mouse." 



They are widely distributed, being found through- 

 outi Africa, Southern Asia, and the In do-Malay an 

 Archipelago, the", Egyptian ichneumon being also 

 found in Spain. l 



'"So trie years Since '. mungooses were introduced 

 into Jamaica for the purpose of destroying rats, 

 which infested the sugar plantations ; and they 

 nave since, in company with stoats, weasels, and. 

 other "vermin" been turned down in Australia 

 and New Zealand in the hope that they would 

 destroy the' rabbits, which have become such a 

 terrible plague; but we doubt whether, in the 

 latter case at least, the remedy will not prove 

 worse than the disease. There are at the Zoo at 

 the present time, in addition to specimens of the 

 Egyptian and Indian ichneumons, a white-tailed 

 ichneumon (H. albicaudatus) from British East, 

 Africa, and a Puisa ichneumon (Bdeogale puisa) 

 also from East Africa, the latter being "new to 

 the collection," and, as will be seen, belonging 

 to a different genus to the others, from which it 

 differs in having only four toes on each foot. It 

 is a curious little brown animal, by no means 

 beautiful, and possesses a bushy tail, which oddly 

 reminds one of a bottle-brush. " And thus much 

 for the description of the Ichneumon/' 



