Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By 1796
Primary Source Reference:
Scientific and Descriptive Catalogue of Peale's Museum (Philadelphia, 1796), pp. 34-35
Additional Source Text:
In his "Walk through the Phil[adelphi]a Museum" (1805-1806), p. 21, Peale wrote that the cafra "are excellent to catch Rats but less docile [than the civet]." He was presumably referring to the Viverra cafra, Karl Christian Gmelin's 1788 designation for the subspecies now known as Herpestes ichneumon cafra.
Notes:
On 25 July 1810 Joseph Lyons (perhaps Philadelphia merchant Joseph Lyon) donated "Two living Ichneumon's from Africa, Male & Female."
The Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), also known as an ichneumon, is a mongoose species native to the Iberian Peninsula, coastal regions along the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Turkey, tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands in Africa.
Specimen Type:
Living/Live (presumably eventually taxidermied/preserved)
Peale's Common Name:
Ichneumon
Peale's Scientific Name:
Mongoose, Buffon; Viverra Mungo, Lin.
Current Common Name:
Egyptian mongoose
Current Scientific Name
Herpestes ichneumon
