XIII HERPESTES 409 
part of the bulla. It is an African genus, containing two species 
which are spotted. The tail is ringed. 
Cynogale is at any rate a partially aquatic, short-tailed, web- 
footed, reddish brown-coloured Civet, which lives upon fish and 
Crustacea, and inhabits the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and 
Borneo. It has long “moustaches,” and is said to have a head 
bearing a singular resemblance to the head of the Insectivorous 
“Otter” Potamogale. The metatarsus is bald, and the pollex and 
hallux are very well developed. 
Sub-Fam. 5. Herpestinae.—There are over twenty species of 
Herpestes (Mongooses) divided between the Ethiopian and Oriental 
regions, one species, H. ichnewmon, being also found in Europe. 
The fur has a “pepper and salt” appearance; the feet are 
plantigrade. There are five fingers and toes. The pollex and 
hallux are small; the tail is long. The tarsus and meta- 
tarsus are usually naked. The Egyptian species “has been 
injudiciously denominated the Cat of Pharaoh.” It is perhaps 
better known as Pharaoh’s Mouse. The beast is so far Cat-like 
that it will destroy Rats and Mice; and it has been exported to 
sugar plantations for that very purpose. More famous are its 
combats with venomous serpents. According to Aristotle and 
Pliny the Ichneumon first coats its body with a coating of mud, 
in which it wallows, and then with this armour can defy 
the serpent. Topsell tells the tale better. The Ichneumon 
burrows in the sand, and “when the aspe espyeth her threaten- 
ing rage, presently turning about her taile, provoketh the 
ichneumon to combate, and with an open mouth and lofty head 
doth enter the list, to her owne perdition. For the ichneumon 
being nothing afraid of this great bravado, receiveth the en- 
counter, and taking the head of the aspe in his mouth biteth 
that off to prevent the casting out of her poison.” In the West, 
Indies the animal has been described as fearlessly attacking the 
deadly Fer de Lance and receiving its bites with impunity; it is 
also added that it will eat the leaves of a particular plant as an 
antidote! The real explanation of the result of these encounters 
is of course the agility of the Ichneumon '—fort cauteleuse beste, as 
Belon says. : 
Another species, 1. albicauda, is distinguished, as the name 
denotes, by its white tail. A species of this genus, H. urva, 
1 See also vol. viii. p. 591. 
