THE STORY OF THE MUNGOOSE. 



187 



poisonous snakes, the Indian mungoose (like its Egyptian cousin) is equally 

 valuable as an exterminator of rats, ships having more than once been 

 cleared of those pests in a comparatively short period by the introduction 

 of a mungoose. About twenty years ago the sugar-planting industry in 

 Jamaica was threatened with annihilation from the damage inflicted on the 

 canes by a particular species of rat, which absolutely swarmed in the island. 

 After ferrets, toads and ants had been tried with more or less ill-success 

 to stay the plague, the Indian mungoose was introduced. In the spring 

 of 1872 nine of these animals were imported and let loose in the island. 



INDIAN MONGOOSES. 



Within a few months young ones were seen about, and in less than six 

 months there was evidence, clear and certain, that the rats were much less 

 destructive than they had ever been known. Fewer rats were caught and 

 fewer canes were destroyed, month after month. Within two years the 

 expenditure in killing rats ceased almost entirely, and in another year the 

 planters enjoyed relief and immunity; and ever since the losses from rats 

 have been a mere trifle. Within a very short time neighboring islands 

 found a similar benefit. The mungoose has been subsequently introduced, 

 with equally satisfactory results, into Cuba, and America's new possession, 

 Porto Rico. 



