134 AIVERlflN^. 



by its extreme watchfulness and activity ; or, if bitten at all, has been 

 so very superficially ; and that perhaps its very thick skin may have a 

 certain degree of insusceptibility to poison. Since this paragraph was 

 first penned, a writer in the Indian Lancet confirms this idea, which 

 he says he has practically pi'oved, both by seeing the cobra bite the 

 mungoos, and by forcing the fang of a cobra into the skin of one, which 

 did not suffer from the exi^eriment. A very recent writer, however, in 

 one of the Indian newspajjers, declares that if the^ fangs are forced 

 through the skin into the flesh the mungoos will die. 



This little animal is frequently domesticated, and becomes excessively 

 tame, following its owner about like a dog, and effectually clearing a 

 house of rats. Mr. Bennett* mentions that an individual of this 

 species in the Tower, "actually on one occasion killed no fewer than a 

 dozen full-grown rats which were loosed to it in a room sixteen feet 

 square, in less than a minute and a half" The Egyptian Ichneumon, 

 Herpestes ichneumon, is said to have a peculiar penchant for crocodiles' 

 eggs. This habit is not noticed with regard to our species, though I 

 dare say it would devour them if it came across any. 



128. Herpestes malaccensis. 



F. CuviEE, Mammif I. pi. 65. — Blyth, Cat. 163. — H, nyula, Hodg- 

 son. — Newol or Nyul, H.— Neiccira, in Central India. — Bajiov Biji, H., 



in Behar. 



The Bengal Mungoos. 



Descr. — General colour mixed i-ich reddish-brown and hoary-yellow? 

 the ears, face, and limbs redder, and less maculate ; neck and body pure 

 pale yellow ; tail concolorous with the body, pointed, and nearly equal 

 in length to the body ; the hair harsh, bristly, not closely applied but 

 diffuse. 



Length, head and body, 16 inches ; tail about 10 or 11. 



This mungoos replaces H. griseus in Bengal and other parts of the 

 North of India, and has pi-ecisely the same habits as that species. It 

 extends into Assam, Burmah, and Malayana. Hodgson states that it 

 affects cultivated fields and gi-ass, and lives in burrows made by 

 themselves. The females produce 3 to 4 young at a birth. 



* Tower Menagerie, p. 106. 



