On most of the islands on which it has become established, the small Indian mongoose has commanded more attention than all indigenous mammals and introduced exotics. As a consequence of its impact on the neotropical single island ecosystems, both as a predator and as a vector of human and animal diseases, the mongoose is uniquely significant. The present study of the mongoose was initiated in 1968 when Everard was appointed by the United Kingdom Medical Research Council (MRC) to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC), formerly the Trinidad Regional Virus Laboratory (TRVL). The terms of the appointment included a study of the biology of the mongoose in Trinidad and Grenada, surveillance of mongoose rabies in Grenada, and an investigation of methods to control mongoose rabies. Coincidentally, in 1968 Nellis was contracted by the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate the wild hosts of the African Bont Tick Amblyomma variegatum (the mongoose being of primary concern). The study was continued in a survey of wild animal parasites and diseases of concern to man or livestock, and it gained impetus as part of the rabies contingency plan for the Virgin Islands. Throughout the course of their work, the investigators continuously exchanged ideas, opinions, data and techniques.