xin HERPESTES 409 



part of the biilla. It is an African genus, containing two species 

 which are spotted. The tail is ringed. 



Cynogak is at any rate a partially aquatic, short-tailed, web- 

 footed, reddish brown -coloured Civet, which lives upon fish and 

 Crustacea, and inhabits the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and 

 Borneo. It has long " moustaches," and is said to have a head 

 bearing a singular resemblance to the head of the Insectivorous 

 " Otter " Potamogale. The metatarsus is bald, and the pollex and 

 hallux are very well developed. 



Sub-Fam. 5. Herpestinae. — There are over twenty species of 

 Herpestcs (Mongooses) divided between the Ethiopian and Oriental 

 regions, one species, H. ichneumon, being also found in Europe. 

 The fur has a " pepper and salt " appearance ; the feet are 

 plantigrade. There are five fingers and toes. The pollex and 

 hallux are small ; the tail is long. The tarsus and meta- 

 tarsus are usually naked. The Egyptian species " has been 

 injudiciously denominated the Cat of Pharaoh." It is perhaps 

 better known as Pharaoh's Mouse. The beast is so far Cat-like 

 that it will destroy Eats and Mice ; and it has been exported to 

 sugar plantations for that very purpose. More famous are its 

 combats with venomous serpents. According to Aristotle and 

 Pliny the Ichneumon first coats its body with a coating of mud, 

 in which it wallows, and then with this armour can defy 

 the serpent. Topsell tells the tale better. The Ichneumon 

 burrows in the sand, and " when the aspe espyeth her threaten- 

 ing rage, presently turning about her taile, provoketh the 

 ichneumon to combate, and with an open mouth and lofty head 

 doth enter the list, to her owne perdition. For the ichneumon 

 being nothing afraid of tliis great bravado, receiveth the en- 

 counter, and taking the head of the aspe in his mouth biteth 

 that off to prevent the casting out of her poison." In the West 

 Indies the animal has been described as fearlessly attacking the 

 deadly Eer de Lance and receiving its bites with impunity ; it is 

 also added that it will eat the leaves of a particular plant as an 

 antidote ! The real explanation of the result of these encounters 

 is of course the agility of the Ichneumon ^ — fort cauteleuse heste, as 

 Belon says. 



Another species, H. albicaucla, is distinguished, as tlie name 

 denotes, by its white tail. A species of this genus, H. urva, 



^ See also vol. viii. p. 591. 



