Carol Beck, age I3, of Cleveland, Ohio, for her question

Where is the home of the mongoose?

We never get to see this scrappy little fells, even in a zoo. For he was forbidden to enter this country by the Lacey Act in 1900. Famous as a snake killer, he was taken to the Test Indies in 18?0. True, he killed the dangerous snakes in Martinique and then set to work on the destructive sugar plantation rats. If only the hungry fells had stopped there   but he did not. He then set to work on the local poultry and became a first class nuisance. For that reason, we have exiled h1m,

There are some 20 mongoose cousins of different varieties. All of them are weasel type animals from 14 to 45 inches long. They are found in India and other parts of Asia, in Egypt and other parts of Africa. There is also a native mongoose in Southern Spain.