714 ACCLIMATIZATION OF MUNGOOS IN Jamaica. [Nov. 28, 
£10,918 ; and this industry is becoming largely extended yearly, as 
people find they can grow cocoa now, because the rats no longer 
destroy the cocoa as they used to do before the Mungoos was intro- 
duced. Coffee-planters admit they lose scarcely any thing now from 
rats, whilst at one time they suffered nearly as badly as the sugar- 
planters. It is now possible to grow and reap maize, peas, and many 
other vegetables, which but a few years ago were eaten wholesale by 
rats, and could not be grown without loss. 
Besides the rats, snakes, lizards, crabs, toads, and the grubs of 
many beetles and caterpillars have been destroyed to a large extent 
by the Mungoos. Unfortunately, ground-nesting birds, the Quail 
and others, have been diminished ; but the loss of poultry is not as 
great from the Mungoos as it was from rats, snakes, &c. before the in- 
troduction of the former. 
Since the introduction by me of the nine Mungooses in February 
1871, several others have been obtained from India by other planters, 
viz. Mr. M‘Phail, Mr. Burgess, &c. ; but they were few in number, and 
are known in some cases to have died without leaving any progeny. 
Mr. Morris, in his letter of the 24th Feb. 1882 (published in the 
‘Field’ of the 6th of May of that year), appears to think that some 
Mungooses had been introduced into Jamaica earlier than my impor- 
tation; but I certainly never heard of this, and I think Mr. Morris 
has been misinformed. Ido not think I could have failed to hear 
of it, considering all I wrote on the subject in 1871. I am inclined 
to think he has confounded subsequent importations with the alleged 
previous introduction. I know that several Mungooses, purchased 
in Leadenhall Market, were sent to Jamaica shortly after I got the 
nine from India, and that they all perished. Mr. Morris says :— 
“From these nine animals nearly, if not all the Mungooses in the 
island at the present time have been obtained. Hence among the 
natives the Mungoos is known as ‘ Massa Espeut’s Ratta.’ ”” 
Besides the many hundreds of Mungooses trapped on Spring 
Garden and sold to planters in Jamaica, large numbers have been 
sent by myself and others to Cuba, Porto Rico, Grenada, Barbadoes, 
Santa Cruz, and elsewhere. In every case I have had good accounts 
of the great benefit arising from their introduction. 
I question much if such enormous benefit has ever resulted from 
the introduction and acclimatization of any one animal, as that 
which has attended the Mungoos in Jamaica and the West Indies ; 
and I marvel that Australia and New Zealand do not obtain this 
useful animal in order to destroy the plague of Rabbits in those 
countries. Much interesting information on the subject will be 
found in Mr. Morris’s letter already referred to. 
November 12, 1882. 
