CHAP. XIV. ICHNEUMON AND CROCODILE. 1.51 



down its throat, penetrates to its entrails. It then 

 gnaws through its stomach ; and having killed 

 its enemy, escapes witliout receiving any injury. 

 However unworthy of credit this story may be, 

 the destruction of the crocodile's eggs by the Ich- 

 neumon is not improbable, both on account of its 

 preferring eggs to every kind of food, and from its 

 inhabiting the banks of the river, where those ani- 

 mals deposit them in the sand. And though the 

 part of the country in which the Ichneumon abounds 

 lies more to the north than the usual abode of the 

 crocodile at the present day, there is little doubt 

 that in former times the latter frequented Lower 

 Egypt ; and this is proved by the fact of its having 

 been the sacred animal of the Arsinoite nome. 



It is, indeed, fortunate for the crocodiles of the 

 present day that Ichneumons no longer abound in 

 the same districts, and that their degenerate de- 

 scendants have not inherited the skill of those 

 mentioned by Diodorus. The "aetas parentum, 

 pejor avis," giving the " progeniem vitiosiorem," 

 has been a great relief to the crocodiles of modern 

 days ; who now enjoy their usual siesta without the 

 fear of those unwelcome intruders. The chivalrous 

 adventures of the Ichneumon have ceased to be 

 recorded by the more matter-of-fact researches of 

 modern naturalists ; and the interests of the two 

 animals no longer clash, as in the days of their 

 adoration. 



The nome of Heracleopolis, the Fyoom, and the 

 vicinity of Cairo, still continue to be the chief resort 

 of the Ichneumon ; and it is someti-mes tamed and 



L 4 



