THE ICHNEUMON, 341 



which, though never so bold, learn to dread the Ichneumon 

 as a formidable enemy. It also takes the water like the otter, 

 and, as we are told, will continue under it much longer. 



This animal grows fast and dies soon. It is found in great 

 numbers in all the southern parts of Asia, from Egypt to 

 Java ; and it is also found in Africa, particularly at the Cape 

 of Good Hope. It is domestic, as was said, in Egypt, but in 

 our colder climate, it is not easy to breed or maintain them, 

 as they are not able to support the rigor of our winters. 

 Nevertheless they take every precaution that instinct can 

 dictate to keep themselves warm ; they wrap themselves up 

 into a ball, hiding the head between the legs, and in this 

 manner continue to sleep all day long. " Seba had one sent 

 him from the island of Ceylon, which he permitted to run for 

 some months about the house. It was heavy and slothful by 

 day, and often could not be awakened even with a blow ; but 

 it made up this indolence by its nocturnal activity, smelling 

 about without either being wholly tame or wholly mischiev- 

 ous. It climbed up the walls and the trees with very great 

 ease, and appeared extremely fond of spiders and worms, 

 which it preferred probably from their resemblance to serpents, 

 its most natural food. It was also particularly eager to 

 scratch up holes in the ground ; and this, added to its wildness 

 and uncleanliness, obliged our naturalist to smother it in spirits 

 in order to preserve, and added it to the rest of his collection." 



This animal was one of those formerly worshipped by the 

 Egyptians, who considered every thing that was serviceable 

 to them as an emanation of the Deity, and worshipped such 

 as the best representatives of God below. Indeed, if we con- 

 sider the number of eggs which the crocodile lays in the sand 

 at a time, which often amounts to three or four hundred, we 

 have reason to admire this little animal's usefulness as well 

 as industry in destroying them, since otherwise the crocodile 

 might be produced in sufficient numbers to overrun the 

 whole earth. 



The Polecat, Civet, and Glutton, have been described in the 

 first volume of this work, to which the reader is referred. 



