~ 1492.” account of the ichneumon. 83 
| thick et the base, and tapers to the point. Like the 
_ rest of its kind, it has glands that open behind, and 
 furm'th an odorous substance. It will take the wa, 
ter like an otter, and continue longer under it. 
it is found in Egypt, where the inhabitants paid 
divine honours to it on account of the benefit they de- 
rived from it by destroying the numbers of croco- 
diles. It is also found in all the southern parts of 
Asia, as far south as the island of Java. It is at 
ptesent domesticated, and kept in houses in Egypt 
and India, where it is more useful than a cat, in de- 
stroying rats and mice, but more especially ser- 
pents and creeping reptiles, which it searches for 
with avidity. It grows very tame, and will sit up 
_ like a squirrel, feeding itself with its fore feet, and 
catching any thing that is thrown to it. Lucan 
beautifully describes the addrefs of the ichneumon 
in subduing the Egyptian asp: | hs 
Bow 
* 
ays 
ca 
> t- ee - od 
“ 
Aspidas ut pharias cauda solertie hostis 
Ludit, et iratas incerta provocat umbra: 
, Obliquans que caput varias serpentis in\auras 
‘a Effuse toto comprendit guttura morsu 
= Letiferam citra saniem: tunc irrita pestis 
+ 
i Pn 
= 
Exprimitur, faucesque fluunt pereunte veneno. 
“LIB. iv. p. 724. 
~ ao 
2 i: In its domestic state it is perfectly tame and gentle. 
_ Mr d’Obsonville speaks of one which he reared from 
-ayoung one. It became tamer than a cat; was obe- 
dient to the call of its master; and followed him 
wherever he went. One day he brought a smalk 
__ Water serpent alive, being desirous to know how far 
* ‘its instinct would carry it against a being with 
__ whom it was hitherto unacquainted. Its first emo- 
