No. 480] 



EXTINCTION OF MAMMALIA 



843 



to the balance of Nature, the food supply, the young of the Herbi- 

 vora is our special inquiry. 



Smaller Carnivora and the Balance of Nature. — T. S. Palmer ^ 

 has given a striking summary of the influence of the mongoose: 



"The common mongoose of India (Herprstes mungo or H. 

 griseus) .... is a well known destroyer of rats, lizards, and snakes, 



and was introduced into Jamaica for the purpose of ridding 



cane fields of rats Various remedies were tried, but apparently 



with little success, until in February, 1872 nine individuals 



of the mongoose, four males and five females, from India, were 

 introduced. These animals increased with remarkable rapidity, 

 and soon spread to all parts of the island, even to the tops of 

 the highest mountains. A decrease in the number of rats was 

 soon noticeable. . . .The mongoose increased, and as the rats dimin- 

 ished, its omnivorous habits became more and more apparent. 

 It destroyed young pigs, kids, lambs, kittens, puppies, the native 

 * coney ' or capromys poultry, game, birds which nested on or near 

 the ground, eggs, snakes, ground lizards, frogs, turtles' eggs, and 

 land crabs. It was also known to eat ripe bananas, pineapples, 

 young corn, avocado pears, sweet potatoes, cocoanuts, and other 

 fruits. Toward the close of the second decade the mongoose, 

 originally considered very beneficial, came to be regarded as the 

 greatest pest ever introduced into the island. Poultry and domes- 

 ticated animals suffered from its depredations, and the short-tailed 

 capromys (Capromys hrachyurus), which was formerly numerous 

 became almost extinct except in some of the mountainous districts. 

 The ground dove (Columbigallina passerina) and the quail dove 

 {Geotrygon montana) became rare, and the introduced bobwhite, 

 or quail, was almost exterminated. The peculiar Jamaica petrel 

 {Mstrelata caribhcea), which nested in the mountains of the island, 

 likewise became almost exterminated. Snakes, represented by 

 at least five species, all harmless, and lizards, including about 

 twenty species, were greatly diminished in numbers. The same 

 thing was true of the land and fresh-water tortoises and the 

 marine turtle (Chelone viridis), which formerly laid its eggs in 



» Palmer, T. S. " The Danger of Introducing Noxious Animals and Birds. 

 Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agric. for 1898, pp. 93, 94. 



