38 THE URVA, OR CRAB-EATING ICHNEUMON. 
same cage, have lost a large portion of their tails by the teeth of their comrades. Still it 
is very playful, and sports with its companions in a curiously kitten-like manner. 
It is extremely active with its fore-paws, armed as they are with their long claws, and 
scratches in a very absurd and amusing manner at anything that may take its attention. 
It is a very agile climber, running over the bars of its cage and up the tree-branches with 
great ease and rapidity, and can spring upon an object from some distance, and with admi- 
rable accuracy of aim. ‘The eye of this animal is of a light brown, and very brilliant. 
THE RIGHT-HAND figure upon the same engraving represents the GARANGAN, or Javanese 
Ichneumon. As is evident by the name, it is an inhabitant of Java. In size it equals 
the last mentioned animal. Its colour is nearly uniform, and consists of a bright rich 
chestnut on the body, and a lighter fawn colour on the head, throat, and under parts of 
the body. 
This little animal is found in great numbers inhabiting the teak forests, where it 
finds ample subsistence in the snakes, birds, and small quadrupeds. The natives assert 
—whether truly or not—that when it attacks a snake it employs a ruse similar to that 
which is often used by a horse when it objects to being saddled. It is said to puff up its 
body, and to induce the snake to twine itself round its inflated person. It then suddenly 
contracts itself, slips from the reptile’s coils, and darts upon its neck. There is some 
foundation for this assertion in the fact that the Garangan, in common with others of the 
same genus, does possess the power of inflating and contracting its body with great 
rapidity ; so much §o, indeed, that during life it is not easy to measure the creature. 
Although it is tolerably susceptible of education, it is rarely kept tame by the natives, 
because it is lable to occasional fits of rage, and when thus excited can inflict very 
painful wounds with its sharp teeth. Moreover, it is too fond of poultry to be trusted 
near the henroosts. 
URVA, OR CRAB-EATING ICHNEUMON.—U?rva cancrivora. 
The UrVA is easily distinguished from the preceding and the following animals by 
the narrow stripe of long white hairs that runs from the angle of the mouth to the 
shoulders, contrasting very decidedly with the greyish-brown tint of the rest of the fur. 
Some very faintly marked darker bars are drawn on the body, and the tail is marked with 
three or four faint transverse bars. This member is more bushy at the base than towards 
the extremity. The feet and legs are of a uniform dark tint. 
THE ICHNEUMONS appear to be the very reptiles of the mammalian animals, in form, 
habits, and action, irresistibly reminding the spectator of the serpent. Their sharp and 
