1891.] MR. R. E. HOLDING ON OVIS ARIKS. 24.5 



April 21, 1891. 

 Prof. Flower, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



The following note on a Mun^oose {Herpestes niungo) breeding 

 during domestication, by Lieut. -Col. Sir O. B. St. John, K.C.S.I., 

 R.E., F.Z.S., was read : — 



"Early in November 1889 my daughter bought a young female 

 Mungoose in Madras. It was apparently about six weeks old. It soon 

 became extremely tame, ran about the house as it liked, but always 

 slept at the foot of its mistress's bed. It accompanied us on a two 

 months' tour in Coorg, during which, though it travelled in a box, 

 it was at liberty at other times ; it went with us to Ootacamund, 

 and was in short thoroughly domesticated. It was never remarked 

 in companj' with wild brethren, but about the middle of September 

 showed signs of approaching maternity, and on the 20th gave birth 

 to two kittens in some hole which we could not find. The mother 

 reappeared the next day for food, but the young ones were not seen 

 for a month or more, when they were as big as she had been when 

 purchased. One has since disappeared, and the other, now almost 

 as big as its parent, accompanies her to the house for food, but will 

 not allow itself to be touched. The mother is as tame as ever, but 

 spends less time in the house and more in the grounds than she 

 used to. It may be gathered that the Mungoose, in Southern 

 India at least, begins to breed at a year old, drops its kittens 

 about September, and has two or perhaps more at a birth. 

 Early in September 1883 I saw a family of a mother and three 

 young ones of Herpestes auropunctatus in Kashmir, and the next 

 day caught one of the kittens, which I judged to be about two 

 months old. It proved untamable and I liberated it, and never 

 saw it again. In the first or second week in December 1882 I 

 bought a young female H. mungo in Bombay, which was, I should 

 say by the light of my later experiences, two to three months old. 

 This little beast became extremely tame and affectionate, and 

 accompanied us in many wanderings from Kashmir to Bangalore, 

 and from Quetta to England. As she grew old she became 

 gradually averse to strangers, and took to avoiding the house when 

 any were staying with us. At last, after seven years' domesticity, 

 she came to the house during our temporary absence, found no one 

 she knew, disappeared and was never seen again. Though this 

 Mungoose was always at liberty and was often in the company of 

 wild Mungooses she never showed any signs of breeding." 



"Bangalore, March 8th, 1891." 



Mr. R. E. Holding exhibited and made remarks on some speci- 

 mens of the horns of Rams of various breeds of the domestic Sheep 

 {Ovis aries). 



