The Ichneumon. 57 



eves, and a pointed nose; the hair is rough and bristly, 

 of a pale reddish grey. 



The Ichneumon is celebrated in the mythology of 

 ancient Egypt, where it has long been domesticated, 

 and where it was ranked amongst the divinities, on 

 account of its great utility in destroying serpents, 

 snakes, rats, mice, and other vermin : it is also fond of 

 crocodiles' eggs, which it digs out of the sand where 

 they have been deposited. It is a very fierce, though 

 small animal, and will fight with dogs, foxes, and even 

 jackals, with great fury. It will not breed in confine- 

 ment, but may be easily tamed when taken young. 



The following particulars are related by M. D'Obson- 

 ville, in his Essays on the Nature of various foreign 

 Animals : *' I had an Ichneumon very young, which I 

 brought up. I fed it at first with milk, and afterward 

 with baked meut mixed with rice. It soon became even 

 tamer than a cat ; for it came when called, and followed 

 me, though at liberty, in the country. One day I 

 brought this animal a small water-serpent alive, being 

 desirous to know how far his instinct would carry him 

 against a being with which he was as yet totally un- 

 acquainted. His first emotion seemed to be astonish- 

 ment mixed with anger, for his hair became erect ; but 

 in an instant he slipped behind the reptile, and with 

 remarkable swiftness and agility leaped upon its head, 

 seized it, and crushed it between his teeth. This essay, 

 and new food, seemed to have awakened in him his in- 

 nate and destructive voracity, which till then had given 

 way to the gentleness he had acquired from education. 

 I had about my house several curious kinds of fowls, 

 among which he had been brought up, and which, till 

 then, he had suffered to go and come unmolested and 

 unregarded : but a few days after, when he found him- 

 self alone, he strangled them everyone, ate a little, and, 

 as it appeared, drank the blood of two." 



The MOONGUS (Herpestes griseus) and the GARANGAN 

 (Herpestes Javanicus) are eastern species of Ichneumons ; 

 the former inhabits India, and the latter the island of 

 Java. Like the Egyptian Ichneumon, they are great 

 3nemies of snakes and other reptiles, and also destroy 



