74 



THE COMMON ICHNEUMON. 



these fierce and fertile reptiles. Snakes, rats, lizards, mice, and various 

 birds fall a prey to this Ichneumon, which will painfully track its prey 

 to its hiding-place, and wait patiently for hours until it makes its appear- 

 ance, or will quietly creep up to the unsuspecting animal, and, flinging 

 itself boldly upon it, destroy it by rapid bites with its long sharp teeth. 



The IcHxNEUMON (Ilerpestes Ichneumon). 



Taking advantage of these admirable qualities the ancient Egyptians 

 were wont to tame the Ichneumon and admit it to the free range of their 

 houses, and on account of its habits paid it divine honors as an out-' 

 ward emblem of the Deity, considered with regard to his sin-destroying 

 mercy. 



Although the diminutive size of this creature renders it an impotent 

 enemy to so large and well-mailed a reptile as the crocodile, yet it 

 causes the destruction of innumerable crocodiles annually by break- 

 ing and devouring their eggs. The egg of the crocodile is extremely 

 small when the size of the adult reptile is taken into consideration, so 

 tliat the Ichneumon can devour several of them at a meal. 



The color of this animal is a brown, plentifully grizzled with gray, 

 each hair being ringed alternately with gray and brown. The total 

 length of the animal is about three feet three inches, the tail measur- 

 ing about eighteen inches. The scent-gland of the Ichneumon is very 

 large in proportion to the size of its bearer, but the substance which it 



