MANGUSTA JAVANICA. 
the antidote which is afforded by the Ophioxylum serpentinum to an animal which 
may have been wounded in the combat, was not reported to me. It is one of those 
stories which, being founded on superficial observation, has too readily been credited 
and copied from one writer to another. 
The Mangusta javanica is very expert in burrowing the ground, which process 
it employs ingeniously in the pursuit of rats. It possesses great natural sagacity ; 
and from the peculiarities of its character, it willingly seeks the protection of man. 
It is readily tamed ; and in a domestic state it is docile, and attached to "its master, 
whom it follows like a dog ; it is fond of caresses, and frequently places itself erect 
on its hind legs, regarding every thing that passes with great attention. It is of a 
very restless disposition, and always carries its food to the most retired place in 
which it is kept, to consume it. It is very cleanly in its habits. It is exclusively 
carnivorous, and very destructive to poultry, employing great artifice in the surprising 
of chickens. For this reason it is rarely found in a domestic state among the natives j 
as one of their principal articles of food is the common fowl, and great quantities 
are reared in all the villages. The Javanese also, like Mahomedans in general, have 
a great partiality for Cats, and they are unwilling, in most cases, to be deprived of 
their society, for the purpose of introducing the Garangan. It has also been observed 
that its sanguinary character shews itself occasionally in a manner that renders it 
dangerous in a family as a domestic animal ; and it indulges, at intervals, in fits of 
excessive violence. 
In the history of this genus, the result of the researches of Naturalists in recent 
periods, both in increasing the number, and in defining the characters of quadru- 
peds, is favourably illustrated. In the twelfth Edition of the Systema Naturae, one 
species only of Mangusta is given, with the name of Viverra Ichneumon, by 
Linnaeus. In the works of BufTon, the Ichneumon mungo of Geoffrey is de- 
scribed with the name of Mangouste de VInde ; two other species are designated with 
the name ofNems (Ichneumon griseus Geoffi*.), and La grande Mangouste (Ichneumon 
major, Geoffr. ;) and the Ichneumon galera Geoffi*. has received the name of Vaimre. 
Edwards added one species, the Ichneumon Edwardsii of Geoffroy ; and Schreber, 
after this period directed his attention to the Mangusta?, and has made some 
improvement in defining the species. But we are indebted to M. Geoffroy for 
having fixed, with all the precision which the materials hitherto collected admit, 
the characters of eight species. The researches of M. Fred. Cuvier have contributed 
to illustrate the history of several of these, and he has added to the number 
enumerated by M. Geoffroy, the Mangouste de Malacca. He states, that having 
separated those species which possess strongly marked characters, namely, the 
