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THE UR FA, OR GRAB-EATING ICHNEUMON. 
truly or not — that when it attacks a snake it employs a ruse similar to that which is often 
used by a horse when it objects to being saddled. It is said to pull up its body, and to induce 
the snake to twine itself round its inflated person. It then suddenly contracts itself, slips 
from the reptile’s coils, and darts upon its neck. There is some foundation for this assertion 
in the fact that the Grarangan, in common with others of the same genus, does possess the 
power of inflating and contracting its body with great rapidity ; so much so, indeed, that 
during life it is not easy to measure the creature. 
Although it is tolerably susceptible of education, it is rarely kept tame by the natives, 
because it is liable to occasional fits of rage, and when thus excited can inflict very painful 
wounds with its sharp teeth. Moreover, it is too fond of poultry to be trusted near the hen- 
roosts. 
The Ueya is easily distinguished from the preceding and the following animals by the 
narrow stripe of long white hairs that runs from the angle of the mouth to the shoulders, con- 
trasting very decidedly with the grayish-brown tint of the rest of the fur. Some very faintly 
URVA, OR CRAB-EATING ICHNEUMON .— Herpestes cancrivorus. 
marked darker bars are drawn on the body, and the tail is marked with three or four faint 
transverse bars. This member is more bushy at the base than towards the extremity. The 
feet and legs are of a uniform dark tint. 
The Ichneumons appear to be the very reptiles of the mammalian animals, in form, 
habits, and action, irresistibly reminding the spectator of the serpent. Their sharp and 
pointed snout, narrow body, short legs, and flexible form, permit them to insinuate themselves 
into marvellously small crevices, and to seek and destroy their prey in localities where it 
might well deem itself secure. There are many species of the genus Herpestes, or “creeper,” 
one of which, the Garangan, has already been mentioned. 
The common Ichneumon, or Pharaoh’ s Rat, as it is popularly but most improperly termed, 
is plentifully found in Egypt, where it plays a most useful part in keeping down the numbers 
of the destructive quadrupeds and the dangerous reptiles. Small and insignificant as this 
animal appears, it is a most dangerous foe to the huge crocodile, feeding largely upon its eggs, 
and thus preventing the too rapid increase of these fierce and fertile reptiles. Snakes, rats, 
lizards, mice, and various birds, fall a prey to this Ichneumon, which will painfully track its 
prey to its hiding-place, and wait patiently for hours until it makes its appearance, or will 
quietly creep up to the unsuspecting animal, and flinging itself boldly upon it destroy it by 
rapid bites with its long sharp teeth, 
