NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



I held a post-mortem, and found that it had died 

 of snake-venom poisoning. Its stomach was badly- 

 congested, and extensive haemorrhage had occurred 

 therein, and in some adjacent tissues. Nov^, what 

 evidently occurred was that the mungoose only 

 slightly chewed up the head of the reptile before 

 swallowing it, and the spasmodic working of the 

 snake's jaws had driven one or both fangs into the 

 wall of the stomach, the venom being at the same 

 time discharged from the glands into the cellular 

 tissue, and thus got direct into the blood stream. 

 Snake venom when swallowed is digested like 

 ordinary albuminous foodstuffs, and therefore does 

 no harm. It is poisonous only when it gets into 

 the blood stream unchanged. 



A Water Mungoose, which a friend had at Port 

 Elizabeth, gave birth to two young ones in the 

 month of August. The mother kept them in a 

 nest of grass in a dark corner of the cage. When 

 they were old enough to leave the nest she showed 

 the greatest anxiety for their welfare. When any- 

 one approached the cage she quickly pushed the 

 little creatures out of sight amongst the fur between 

 her hind legs, and faced the intruder in a menacing 

 attitude, ready to sacrifice her life in defence of 

 her babies. 



The natural diet of the Water Mungoose consists 

 of almost any species of living creature it is able 

 to overpower. When food is abundant in and 

 near water, they seldom venture far from their 



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