THE STORY OF THE MUNGOOSE. 
187 
poisonous snakes, the Indian mungoose (like its Egyptian cousin) is equally 
valuable as an exterminator of rats, ships having more than once been 
cleared of those pests in a comparatively short period by the introduction 
of a mungoose. About twenty years ago the sugar-planting industry in 
Jamaica was threatened with annihilation from the damage inflicted on the 
canes by a particular species of rat, which absolutely swarmed in the island. 
After ferrets, toads and ants had been tried with more or less ill-success 
to stay the plague, the Indian mungoose was introduced. In the spring 
of 1872 nine of these animals were imported and let loose in the island. 
INDIAN MONGOOSES. 
Within a few months young ones were seen about, and in less than six 
months there was evidence, clear and certain, that the rats were much less 
destructive than they had ever been known. Fewer rats were caught and 
fewer canes were destroyed, month after month. Within two years the 
expenditure in killing rats ceased almost entirely, and in another year the 
planters enjoyed relief and immunity; and ever since the losses from rats 
have been a mere trifle. Within a very short time neighboring islands 
found a similar benefit. The mungoose has been subsequently introduced, 
with equally satisfactory results, into Cuba, and America's new possession, 
Porto Rico. 
