54 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



being an indigenous Mouse in the island, though I think it 

 unlikely. 



The Mongoose, introduced a few years ago for the purpose of 

 stemming the ravages committed by the Rats in the cane-fields, 

 has done the work effectually ; it is now very rare to see damage 

 done to the growing canes by rats. The introduction of the 

 Mongoose has not, however, been an unmixed blessing; it has 

 largely increased and spread over the entire island ; it plays havoc 

 amongst poultry, especially with young turkeys and guinea-fowl. 

 I was also informed that it had taken to devouring Centropyx 

 intermedins, the " Iguana Lizard." I am unable to determine 

 which species of Herpestes is the one introduced and now 

 flourishing in Barbados; I did not obtain a specimen for identifi- 

 cation, as there is an Act of the Legislature protecting them. 

 The coloured people dread the bite of the Mongoose, and many 

 of them believe that it may bring on rabies in individuals : I cannot 

 say whether there are the slightest grounds for their apprehension. 



I am indebted to Dr. Sinclair Browne, M.D., of Barbados, for 

 the following information in regard to the introduction of the 

 European Hare. Examples were brought to the island from 

 England by Mr. Thomas Trotman in 1842, and kept in an 

 enclosure on the Bulkeley Estate, in St. George's parish. In 

 this enclosure they bred ; after a very heavy rainfall the enclosure 

 broke down and the Hares escaped. From thence they spread all 

 over the island and increased rapidly, for in those days the negroes 

 did not possess firearms, as they do now. Twenty years ago 

 Dr. Browne remembered a man in St. Philip's parish who used 

 to shoot from two to three hundred Hares annually. They are 

 not so numerous now, owing to the more general possession of 

 firearms by the coloured people, but more from the increase in the 

 number of the Mongoose during the last ten years. Dr. Browne 

 informed me that the Mongoose undoubtedly destroys a large 

 number of leverets and half-grown Hares. The Hare in Barbados 

 attains a good weight, sometimes twelve pounds. Dr. Browne 

 has evidence that they breed during each month of the year ; they 

 generally have one or two young. 



The Rabbit, Lepus cuniculus, has not succeeded in a feral 

 condition in Barbados ; they increase rapidly at first, but mange 

 soon attacks the old ones, and the rats kill the young before they 

 are old enough to leave their burrows. 



