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Show 1891.] MR. R. E. HOLDING ON OVIS ARIES. 245 April 21, 1891. Prof. Flower, C.B., LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. The following note on a Mungoose (Herpestes mungo) 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 company 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 specimens of the horns of Rams of various breeds of the domestic Sheep (Ovis aries). |