712 MR. W. B. ESPEUT ON THE ACCLIMATIZATION [Nov. 28, 
4, On the Acclimatization of the Indian Mungoos in 
Jamaica. By W. Bancrort Espevt, F.L.S. 
[Received November 13, 1882. ] 
In 1871 the loss in sugar-cultivation in Jamaica from the ravages 
of rats was so great that I was convinced that something more than 
poison, traps, &c. was required to reduce it, if sugar-culture was to 
continue. For nearly 200 yeats the sugar-planters have had to 
contend with this serious difficulty ; and on most estates from £200 
to £300 a year have been expended in destroying the rats by poison, 
traps, and baits, and in ratcatchers and dogs. This expenditure, 
however, only represented a fraction of the loss resulting from the 
injury and destruction of the canes, and of the sugar they con- 
tained. 
Besides the ordinary Black and Brown Rats of Europe, the Island 
was infested with the Grey Rat, or, as it is locally called, “ Cane-piece 
Rat” (Mus saccharivorus). Whence the species came is known to 
no one; probably it is indigenous, as it is found in Cuba, Porto 
Rico, and other islands. The Brown and Black Rats cause com- 
paratively small loss; but the Grey Rat is most destructive. 
Nesting in old stone walls, in holes in wet banks and tree-roots (but 
not on trees like the Black Rat), it falls an easy prey to terriers ; 
but as dogs suffer much from injuries to their eyes in traversing 
cane-fields, owing to the serrated edges of the leaves and the spines 
on the young plants, it was futile to expect much relief from 
them. 
More than 100 years ago Sir Charles Price, then a large sugar- 
planter, introduced ferrets and English rat-catchers ; but the ferrets 
were destroyed by chigoes, and were of little use. Tradition says 
Sir Charles Price then obtained from Central America some other 
animal; but nothing is certainly known about this; certainly no 
animal belonging to the Musteline group exists in the island. Con- 
founding the ferrets with the Grey Rat, the negroes appear to think 
Sir Charles Price introduced the latter ; and, in consequence of this 
strange error, they even now call the Grey or Cane-piece Rat 
‘* Massa Price’s Ratta.”’ 
In 1844 Mr. Anthony Davis imported from Barbadoes some two 
dozen Agua Toads (Bufo agua), in the hope that they would 
mitigate the rat plague. These toads were introduced from Cayenne 
into Martinique, and thence to Barbadoes, and were regarded as 
useful in destroying the young rats. But in Jamaica they certainly 
proved not only valueless, but a nuisance: the noise they make is 
most disagreeable; and they are very destructive to poultry, chickens, 
and eggs. 
Sir Stamford Raffles, the first President of this Society, intro- 
duced into Jamaica from Cuba the Formica omnivora, now known 
locally as the “ Raffle ant.” This formidable insect certainly keeps 
