NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



comes in frequent contact with, the general public, 

 he soon becomes convinced that accurate Natural 

 History knowledge is at an exceedingly low ebb. 

 Take one instance out of many scores of typical 

 cases. The Ground Squirrel is one of the com- 

 monest species of animals in the inland parts of 

 South Africa ; and its habit of disporting itself 

 during the daytime out on the open Karoo-veld 

 makes it a familiar object to every resident of 

 those parts. Yet I doubt if there could be found 

 even one individual in a thousand who could 

 correctly name it. TraveUing through the Mid- 

 lands on a lecture tour, I asked over a hundred 

 different individuals in various parts of the country, 

 viz. farmers, villagers and townspeople, including 

 school-teachers and even College Professors, if they 

 " knew the little yellowish-brown animal with a 

 white-streaked bushy tail and body, which lives in 

 families in burrows on the Karoo-veld, and which 

 can be seen by any one along the lines of railway." 

 Some had frequently seen it, but did not know its 

 name. The majority, however, instantly answered, 

 " Yes, I know it well ; it is a Meercat." 



In the Port Elizabeth Museum we had several on 

 exhibition alive, and during the Agricultural Show 

 week great crowds of farmers thronged the Museum. 

 Removing the label bearing the name of the 

 Squirrels, I asked an assistant to stand near their 

 cage at intervals during the day. In every instance 

 the animals were called Meercats. There is, how- 



64 



