286 
Pliny's itatueal histoey. [BookVIIL 
against its sting, except the instant excision of the affected 
part.®* This reptile, which is thus deadly, is possessed of this 
one sense, or rather affection ; the male and the female are 
generally found together, and the one cannot live without 
the other ; hence it is that, if one of them happens to be killed, 
the other takes incredible pains to avenge its death. It follows 
the slayer of its mate, and will single him out among ever 
such a large number of people, by a sort of instinctive know- 
ledge ; with this object it overcomes all difficulties, travels any 
distance, and is only to be avoided by the intervention of rivers 
or an accelerated flight. It is really difficult to decide, whether 
ISTature has altogether been more liberal of good or of evil. 
Pirst of all, however, she has given to this pest but weak 
powers of sight, and has placed the eyes, not in the front of the 
head, so that it may see straight before it, but in the temples, 
so that it is more frequently put in motion by the approach of 
the footstep than through the sight. (24.) The ichneumon, too, 
is its enemy to the very death. 
enraged, and its capacity of being tamed, or, as it is styled, enchanted. 
This last has been taken advantage of by the jugglers of that country from 
the most remote antiquity, as appears from the writings of Moses, and some- 
thing of a similar nature is still practised. They remove the poison fangs, 
so as to render the animal harmless, and by certain sounds render it obe- 
dient to their call. It appears, also, that by pressing on the upper part 
of the spine, the animal is rendered paralytic, and may be said to be changed 
into a rod ; this fact was witnessed by St. Hilaire. The asp is described 
by Aristotle, and is frequently mentioned by JSlian. Galen speaks of its 
deadly poison, in his Theriaca, c. 8. See Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 437 — 9 ; 
Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 414, 415. — B. Pliny mentions, however, in B. xxiii. 
c. 27, that the bite of the asp may be cured with vinegar. 
Both Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 29, and JElian, ubi supra, 
speak of the extreme virulence of the poison of the asp, and Cuvier remarks 
that the haje, and the haga, which are species of the asp, are among the 
most formidable of the serpent tribe. — B. 
The method of attracting this serpent, by imitating the voice of the 
female, proves that there is some foundation for this statement. — B. 
^6 The ichneumon of the ancients, the "Viverra ichneumon " of Linnaeus, 
is still common in Egypt, and renders essential service by destroying the 
eggs of serpents. With respect to what is here said of its covering its 
body with mud, to protect itself against the asp, the fact appears to be, 
that in searching for the eggs, which are deposited in the mud, its body 
becomes more or less covered with that substance, and may possibly in 
this way be less exposed to the attacks of the asp. The contest of the 
asp and the ichneumon is mentioned by ^lian, B. iii. c. 22. — B> 
