38 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. I. 



fur, that the invalid soldiers in the sanatarium there, to 

 whom it is familiar, have given it the name of the 

 * Ceylon Badger." 



I have found universally that the natives of Ceylon 

 attach no credit to the European story of the Mongoos 

 {H. griseus) resorting to some plant, which no one has 

 yet succeeded in identifying, as an antidote against the 



HERPESTES VITTICOLLIS. 



bite of the venomous serpents on which it preys. There 

 is no doubt that, in its conflicts with the cobra de capello 

 and other poisonous snakes, which it attacks with as 

 little hesitation as the harmless ones, it may be seen 

 occasionally to retreat, and even to retire into the jun- 

 gle, and, it is added, to eat some vegetable; but a gen- 

 tleman, who has been a frequent observer of its exploits, 

 assures me that most usually the herb it resorted to was 



