WEESE L. 
tip of the nofe'to the end of the tail: the fpecimen 
in the Afhmolean Mufeum was thirteen inches and a 
half long to the origin of the tail ^ the tail eleven : 
the AEgyptian variety is the largeft. 
Inhabits Mgypt, Barb ary, India , and its ijiands: 
a mod: ufefull animal •, being an inveterate enemy 
to the ferpents and other noxious reptiles which in- 
fell the torrid zone : attacks without. dread that 
moft fatal of ferpents the Naja , or Cobra di Capelio *, 
and fhould it receive a wound in the combat 5 in- 
ftantly retires •, and is faid to obtain * an antedote 
from a certain herb, after which it returns to the 
attack, and feldom fails of vidtory : is a great de- 
ftroyer of the eggs of crocodiles, which it digs out 
of the fand *, and even kills multitudes of the young 
of thofe terrible reptiles : it was not therefore with¬ 
out reafon, that the antient aE gyptians ranked the 
* A fa£l, as yet, not well eflabliihed : Botanifts are not yet 
agreed about the ipecies of this fanative plant, whole ufe, it is pre¬ 
tended, this weefel pointed out to mankind : thofe who have leen 
the combats between the Ichneumon and Naia, never could difcover 
it: Ka?npfer , a writer of the frit authority, who.viiited India, and 
who had a tame Ichneumon, and been witnefs to its battles with 
the lerpent, fays no more than that it retired and eat the roots of 
any herb it met with. It is from the Indians he received the account 
of the root, whofe veracity he fpeaks moft contemptuoudy of. 
Aman. Exot. 576. Rumphms never faw the plant growing; but de- 
fcribes it from a fpecimen fent him from Java; for he fays the In- 
■ dims would perfu'ade him, that it had no leaves. Vide Herb. Am- 
boin. App. 71. All that feems certain, is, that the Indians have a 
plant, of whofe alexipharmic virtues they have a high opinion, and 
are faid to ufe it with fuccefs againft the clreadfull macajfar poilon, 
and the bite ©f ferpents. Ktempfer layshe had good fuccefs with one 
fpecies, in putrid fevers, and found it infallible for the bite of'a mad 
dog. As there is no doubt but a mod ufefull plant of this nature' 
does exilt in the Indies , it is to be hoped that Uriel enquiry will be 
made after it. In order to direfl their fearches, they are referred to 
Garcia ah Florids FUJI. A.romatum in Clus. Exot. 214. 
Kampfer Ameen. Exot. 573. Rumph. Herb. Amboin. App. 29. 
Arnan. Acad. II. 89. Flora Zeylanica. 46, 190, 239. 
2 Ichneumon 
