40 



MAMMALIA. 



[Chap. I. 



Obliquusque caput vanas serpentis in auras 

 Effusse toto comprendit guttura morsu 

 Letiferam citra saniem ; tunc irrita pestis 

 Exprimitur, faucesque fluunt pereunte veneno." 



Pharsalia, lib. iv. v. 729. 



The mystery of the mongoos and its antidote has 

 been referred to the supposition that there may be some 

 peculiarity in its organisation which renders it proof 

 against the poison of the serpent. It remains for fu- 

 ture investigation to determine how far this conjecture 

 is founded in truth ; and whether in the blood of the 

 mongoos there exists any element or quality which acts 

 as a prophylactic. Such exceptional provisions are not 

 without precedent in the animal ceconomy : the hornbill 

 feeds with impunity on the deadly fruit of the strych- 

 nos; the milky juice of some species of euphorbia, 

 which is harmless to oxen, is invariably fatal to the 

 zebra; and the tsetse fly, the pest of South Africa, 

 whose bite is mortal to the ox, the dog, and the horse, 

 is harmless to man and the untamed creatures of the 

 forest. 1 



The Singhalese distinguish one species of mongoos, 

 which they designate " Hotambeya" and which they 

 assert never preys upon serpents. A writer in the 

 Ceylon Miscellany mentions, that they are often to be 

 seen " crossing rivers and frequently mud-brooks near 

 Chilaw; the adjacent thickets affording them shelter, 

 and their food consisting of aquatic reptiles, crabs, and 

 mollusca." 2 



1 Dr. Livingstone, Tour in S. or mouse-cat of Behar* which preys 

 Africa, p. 80. Is it a fact that, in upon birds and fish. Can it be the 

 America, pigs extirpate the rattle- TJrva of the Nepalese ( Urva can- 

 snakes with impunity ? crivora, Hodgson), which Mr. Hodg- 



2 This is possibly the "musbilai" son describes as dwelling in bur- 



