66 ANIMALS OF THE 



they have received the name of vermin, from their 

 similitude to the worm in this particular. These 

 animals differ from all of the cat kind, in the 

 formation and disposition of the claws, which, as 

 in the dog kind, they can neither draw in nor ex- 

 tend at pleasure, as cats are known to do. They 

 differ from the dog kind, in being clothed rather 

 with fur than hair ; and although some varieties 

 of the fox may resemble them in this particular, 

 yet the coat of the latter is longer, stronger, and 

 always more resembling hair. Beside these dis- 

 tinctions, all animals of the weasel kind have 

 glands placed near the anus, that either open in- 

 to, or beneath it, furnishing a substance, that, 

 in some, has the most offensive smell in nature, 

 in others, the most pleasing perfume. All of 

 this kind are still more marked by their habi- 

 tudes and dispositions than their external form ; 

 cruel, voracious, and cowardly, they subsist only 

 by theft, and find their chief protection in their 

 minuteness. They are all, from the shortness 

 of their legs, slow in pursuit; and therefore 

 owe their support to their patience, assiduity, 

 and cunning. As their prey is precarious, they 

 live a long time without food ; and if they hap- 

 pen to fall in where it is in plenty, they in- 

 stantly destroy all about them before they be- 

 gin to satisfy their appetite, and suck the blood 

 of every animal before they begin to touch its 

 flesh. 



These are the marks common to this kind, all 

 the species of which have a most striking resem- 

 blance to each other ; and he that has seen one, 



