2Q2 
THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
to be an antidote against the poison of the bite, if he should 
happen to receive one. I was present at an experiment tried 
at Columbo to ascertain the reality of this circumstance. 
The ichneumon, procured for the purpose, was first shewn the 
snake in a close room. On being let down to the ground, 
he did not discover any inclination whatever to attack his 
enemy, but ran prying about the room to discover if there 
was any hole or aperture by which he might get out. On 
finding none, he returned hastily to his master, and placing 
himself in his bosom, could not by any means be induced to 
quit it, or face the snake. On being carried out of the 
house, however, and laid down near his antagonist in an open 
place, he instantly flew at the snake and soon destroyed it. 
He then suddenly disappeared for a few minutes, and again 
returned as soon as he had found the herb and eat of if. 
This useful instinct impels the animal to have recourse to 
the herb on all occasions, where it is engaged with a snake, 
whether poisonous or not. The one employed in this experi- 
ment was of the harmless kind, and procured for the 
purpose. 
The flormouse, or flying-fox, like the bat, partakes of the 
appearance both of the bird and quadruped; and its name 
is derived from the great resemblance of its head and body 
to the fox. Its body is about the size of an ordinary cat : 
the wings when extended measure from the tip of the one to 
that of the other upwards of six feet ; and the length of the 
animal from the nose, to the tail of which it has barely the 
