BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 45 



or rather of Affection : they for the most part wander abroad 

 in Pairs ; nor can they live without their Mate : so that if 

 one be killed, it is incredible how the other seeketh to be 

 revenged. It pursueth the Murderer; it knoweth him 

 again amongst a great number of People, and followeth him 

 closely ; it overcometh all Difficulties, goeth to any Dis- 

 tance, and nothing will save him unless it is stopped by some 

 River, or that the Individual betake himself to a hasty 

 Flight. I am not able to say whether Nature hath been 

 more free in producing such Evils, or in giving us Remedies. 

 For, in the first place, she hath afforded to this hurtful 

 Creature but a dim Pair of Eyes, and those not placed in the 

 fore Part of the Head, to see directly forward, but in the 

 Temples. And therefore these Serpents are oftener directed 

 by their Hearing than Sight. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

 Of the Ichneumon* 



THERE is mortal War between the Asp and the Ichneu- 

 mon. This Animal is known by this Distinction especially, 

 that it is bred likewise in 

 the same Egypt. It wallows 

 oftentimes within the Mud, 

 and then dries itself again in 

 the Sun ; and when he hath 

 thus armed himself with many 



* From the Pavement of the Temple of Fortune 

 Skins, he gOeth forth tO atPalestrma. Montf. torn. vi. pi. 60. 



combat. In Fight he sets up his Tail, and turning it to 

 the Enemy, receiveth all the Strokes (of the Aspis) without 

 harm, until he spies a Time to turn his Head on one Side, 

 that he may catch the Aspis by the Throat. And not 



the most common and celebrated is the present species. The animal mea- 

 sures from three to five feet in length, and is closely allied to the cobra 

 capello, or spectacled snake of India. It inhabits Egypt and other parts 

 of Africa. Wern. Club. 



1 Herpestes Pharaonis. DESMAE. The Ichneumon. There is no 

 reason to doubt this being the animal intended by Pliny. Wern. Club. 



