22-1 
W E E S E l: 
Ichneumon among their Deities: is at prefent do- 
mefticated and kept in houles in India and in 
Mgypt *, for it is more ufefull than a cat, in defkroy ■ 
ing rats and mice: grows very tame : is very a&ives 
fprings with great agility on its prey; will glide 
along the ground like a ferpent, and feem as if 
without feet: fits up like a fquirrei, and eats with 
its fore feet: catches any thing that is flung to it: is 
a great enemy to poultry : will feign itfelf dead, till 
they come within reach : loves flfli: draws its prey, 
after fucking the blood, to its hole : its excrements 
very fetid : when it fleeps, brings its head and tail 
tinder its belly, appearing like a round ball, with 
two legs flicking out. Rumphius obferves how Ikil- 
fully it feizes the ferpents by the throat, fo as to 
avoid receiving any injury: and Lucan beautifully 
defcribes the fame addrefs of this animal, in con¬ 
quering the ./Egyptian Alp. 
Afpidas ut Pharias cauda folertior hoftis 
Ludit , et iratas incerta provocat umbra: 
Obliquanfque caput vanas ferpentis in auras 
Effufe toto comprendit guttura morfu 
hetiferam citra faniem: tunc irrita peftis 
Exprimitur , fauccjque Jluunt pereunte veneno. 
Lib. iv. 724? 
163. Four® jLc Surikate de Bujfon a xiii. 7 2 * tab, viik 
W. with the upper jaw much longer than the lower, 
and very moveable and pliant: ears rounded: hair 
pretty long, hard, and uprights varied with black 
an# 
