THE MANGOUSTIS. 



•93 



tirely conceal the legs when the animal 

 is creeping on the ground. Various species 

 of these animals are found in all the warm 

 parts of the Old World, and all hunt only by 

 day, catching their prey alive. 



Only one species (//. Widdringtoni) is 

 found in Europe, in the south of Spain, and 

 it is very little known. The hairs of this 



species are used in making paint-brushes for 

 artists. That is all that is known about it. 

 The Egyptian Ichneumon, or Pharaoh's 

 Rat, as it is sometimes called {Herpcsles 

 Ichneumon), fig. 95, is found especially in the 

 Lower Nile Valley, but its domain extends 

 into Palestine on the one hand, and as far as 

 Tunis on the other. Among the twelve 



Fig. 95. —The Egyptian Iclmcumon or Fliaraoh's Kat [Heipcsies Ichneumon). 



species of Herpestes native to Africa the 

 Egyptian ichneumon is one of the largest, its 

 body measuring about two feet in length, 

 while the length of the tail is about 20 

 inches. The head is pointed, the ears short, 

 the body pretty thick, the feet five-toed, the 

 legs very short and almost hidden under the 

 long hairs of the grayish-green fur, the 

 colour of which is very well adapted to 

 prevent the animal from being seen when 

 it creeps according to its wont amidst the 

 high grass and in the cane thickets. The 

 long tail set with rather stiff bristles ends 

 in a tuft which comes to a point. 



The ancient Egyptians worshipped this 

 ichneumon as a benefactor of the land. They 

 saw in it the inexorable destroyer of the 

 crocodile, and especially of the crocodile's 

 eggs, as well as of dangerous poisonous ser- 

 pents. Numerous ichneumon mummies are 

 found in the graves. The most extraordinary 



deeds of heroism are related on the part of 

 this animal. Not content with burrowing into 

 the eggs of these terrible reptiles, the ichneu- 

 mon was even said to steal into the open 

 throat of sleeping crocodiles, to creep down 

 to the stomach, and then to tear out the heart, 

 and thus destroy the animal in a highly inge- 

 nious but cruel manner. If it met a large 

 poisonous serpent, it was said to call its com- 

 rades to its aid in order to fight the terrible 

 enemy in common. There was certainly 

 much of the fabulous in these stories, but what 

 we may accept as truth is that the ichneumon 

 destroyed poisonous serpents and crocodiles' 

 eggs. Since the crocodile has entirely dis- 

 appeared from Lower Egypt, and the ich- 

 neumon accordingly can no longer render any 

 services against it, the fellahs of the present 

 day take chiefly into account the devastations 

 which it commits in their poultry-yards, and 



pursue with an inexpiable hatred the creature 



as 



