186 
THE STORY OF THE MONGOOSE. 
being bitten by his wonderful activity. He appears to wait till the snake 
makes a dart at him, and then suddenly pounces upon the reptile’s head 
and crunches it to pieces. I have seen a mungoose eat up the head and 
poison glands of a large cobra, so the poison must be harmless to the 
mucous membrane of the former animal. When excited, the mungoose 
erects its long stiff hair, and it must be very difficult for a snake to drive 
its fangs through this and through the thick skin which all kinds of mun- 
gooses possess. In all probability a mungoose is very rarely scratched by 
the fangs, and, if he is, very little poison can be injected. It has been 
repeatedly proved by experiments that a mungoose can be killed, like any 
other animal, if properly bitten by a venomous snake, though even in this 
case the effects appear to be produced after a longer period than with other 
mammals of the same size. 
In addition to being a benefactor to the human race as a destroyer of 
