“= 
a few months,” writes Mr. Espeut, “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 ceé sed almost entirely, and in another year I enjoyed relief and 
immunity ; and ever since the losses from rats have been a mere trifle. Within a 
very short time (three years) neighbouring estates found a similar benefit, and some 
of my brother sugar-planters, who had laughed at me for supposing the mungoose 
would do any good, began to buy all they could procure from the natives, who, 
setting traps on my lands, stole all the mungooses they could obtain, and sold them. 
By this means, and naturally, the mungoose has now [1882] become general all 
over the island, and the beneficial results of this useful animal may safely be taken 
as exceeding £150,000 a year.” The mungoose has been subsequently introduced, 
with equally satisfactory results, into Cuba, Porto Rico, Grenada, Barbadoes, and 
Santa Cruz. 
The small Indian mungoose (H. wuropunctatus) is a member of the same 
group as the preceding species, but is of smaller dimensions, with closer and shorter 
fur, in which the individual hairs of the back do not have more than five coloured 
rings. This is a northern form, not found in India to the southward of Caleutta, 
and ranging into the Himalaya as far north as the valley of Kashmir, while to the 
westward its range includes Baluchistan and portions of Afghanistan and Persia, 
and eastwards it extends through Assam into Upper Burma. In Kashmir it may 
frequently be seen in the Mohammedan burying-places, where it inhabits old 
graves. Omitting mention of other uniformly-coloured Indian species, we may 
briefly refer to three other species inhabiting our eastern dominions. One of these 
is the ruddy mungoose (H. smithi), widely distributed in India, and distinguished 
by the black tip to its tail, and the absence of a stripe on the throat. The second 
is the stripe-necked mungoose (/. viticollis), which is the largest of all the Asiatic 
species, and is readily distinguished by having both a black tip to the tail and a 
black stripe down each side of the neck. It inhabits Western India, from Bombay 
to Cape Comorin, and is also found in Ceylon. 
The last of these three species is the crab-eating mungoose (H. urva), 
remarkable on account of its peculiar habits. In size this species (of which we give 
a figure) is rather smaller than the preceding one, and is characterised by its thick 
and heavy build, the uniformly-coloured tail, and the presence of a narrow white 
stripe running along each side of the neck, from the angle of the mouth to the 
shoulder. The crab-eating mungoose is found at low elevations in the South- 
Eastern Himalaya, as well as in Assam, Arakan, Pegu, Tenasserim, and the south 
of China. It is stated to be of partially aquatic habits, and derives its name from 
the crabs which, together with frogs, are asserted to form its chief food. Further 
information as to the habits of this species is, however, still required. 
The remaining representatives of the true mungooses comprise the large Javan 
mungoose (H. javanicus) and the short-tailed mungoose (H. brachywrus) from the 
Malay Peninsula and some of the islands of the same region, and the barred 
mungoose (H. semitorquatus) from the Island of Borneo. It has already been 
mentioned that a few of the true mungooses have but three premolar teeth on 
