"PHAROE'S MOUSE." 

 (Dec. 24, 1892.) 



THE animal called by the Old- World naturalists 

 Pharoe's mouse, Pharaoh's rat, the rat of India, 

 or ichneumon, is perhaps best known in these 

 days by its Indian name mungoose. It was so 

 intimately connected with the crocodile in the 

 minds, and consequently in the books, of these 

 writer.*, that, having recently written on croco- 

 diles, we feel that our subject is hardly complete 

 without some account of this animal and of the 

 marvellous stories which surrounded it. 



Ihe ichneumon, or mungoose, is a terrible 

 enemy to " mice and rats, and such small deer," 

 a fact which was emphasised by Belon in his 

 " Portraits d'Oyseaux," &c., in the following 

 quatrain, under the woodcut of this animal: 



Voy le portrait du Rat de Pharaon, 

 Qui chasse aux Rats, comme fait la Belette; 

 ATI demeurant fort cauteleuse heste, 

 Qui autrement est nominee Ichneumon. 



But it is not so much in this capacity as in that 

 of a destroyer of snakes and other reptiles that 

 it has always been and is to this day famous. 

 Everyone has heard and read histories of fights 



