CARNIVORA. 
177 
feet have five toes, and the hairs are long and annu- 
lated. The eyes are capable of being completely 
covered with a nictitating membrane. 
THE AFRICAN ICHNEUMON^. LA MANGOUSTE d’eGYPTE. 
Viverra ichneumon. 
The figure of the African ichneumon here given 
is from a very fine specimen, which was in the pos- 
session of Mr. Leadbeater. It was nearly four feet 
long. The hair is coarse and mottled, and the depth 
of colour differs in different individuals. 
M. D’Opsonville possessed an ichneumon, which 
he brought up for a time perfectly tame, as it mixed 
with his poultry without disturbing them,* Anxious 
to see what effect would be produced by exposing a 
snake to him, which the ichneumon had never before 
seen, he procured a small one for the purpose. The 
animal quickly leaped on the reptile, and bit it mor- 
tally; but the experiment seemed to alter its nature, 
for it thenceforward became rapacious, and destroyed 
its former companions of the poultry yard. 
This animal was an object of worship in the Egyp- 
tian mythology; and if it were deified by them for 
its supposed useful qualities, they also paid equal 
honours to some other animals, the pretensions of 
which to utility it is now difficult to make out. 
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