392 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



nearly as villose as that of the Fox, and stronger toward 

 the end than at its base ; its colour is grayish near the 

 body, and a brown-black as it approaches the termination. 

 The muzzle is blackish ; the upper part of the head and 

 outside of the ears gray. 



The boundless diversity of nature must ever be a subject 

 of admiration and astonishment to the limited faculties of 

 the human mind. Every creature of organization is dif- 

 ferent from all others. Whatever analogies may exist in 

 the various genera and species, absolute similarity is no 

 where to be found, and the observation, however trite, and 

 however familiar, that no two faces are alike, is not the 

 less true or the less astonishing. 



The highly singular animal now before us, appears, to a 

 certain extent, however limited, to militate against the uni- 

 versal application of this observation : one might be almost 

 tempted, at first sight, to suppose that nature tired of no- 

 velties, and at a loss for further diversity of form, had been, 

 as it were, compelled in multiplying her works, to have re- 

 course to her own created models, and no longer to draw 

 upon the exhausted resources of original powers ; but a de- 

 liberate conclusion to that effect would be equally at vari* 

 ance with our better notions of Omnipotence, and with the 

 wonderful phenomena of creation we see around us. 



We proceed to the third subdivision of the Viverra which 

 includes the M angoustes, the first of which is the celebrated 

 Ichneumon. If, in the mythological system of the ancient 

 Egyptians, the various living beings which people the surface 

 of the earth were each entitled to particular reverence in 

 consequence of the influence which they exercise over the 

 economy of nature, and the part which they contribute to the 

 general harmony of the universe, the Ichneumon unques- 

 tionably possessed more claims than any other animal to 

 the homage of that singular people. It presented a lively 



