236 



TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



the mongoose erects its long, stiff hair, and it mnst be 

 very difficult for a snake to drive its fangs through this, 

 and through the thick skin which all kinds possess. In 

 all probability a mongoose is very rarely scratched by 

 the fangs, and if he is very little poison can be injected. 

 It has been repeatedly proved by experiment that a 

 mongoose can be killed like any other animal if properly 

 bitten by a venomous snake, though even in this case 

 the effects appear to be produced after a longer period 



Fig. 6s. 



THE FOUSSA. 



than with other beasts of the same size." There are 

 some small allied forms in Madagascar, where alone is 

 also to be found the most catlike of the whole group — 

 the foussa. This animal was described and named many 

 years ago in the first volume of " The Transactions of 

 the Zoological Society of London," and has been recently 

 imported into that society's gardens. 



To the tribe of civets, genets and mongooses, succeeds 

 another small group of exclusively Old World mammals, 

 which are different indeed in size and form from the 

 last-named animals, and yet in essential structure are 

 closely allied to them. The group referred to is that of 



