[Three Hundred Animals Contents]
A SPECIES of the weasel kind, found chiefly in Egypt, where he has been long domesticated, and even deified on account of his great utility in destroying serpents, snakes, rats, mice, and other vermin; he is also fond of crocodile’s eggs, which he digs out of the sand where they have been deposited. It is a very fierce, though small animal, fearing neither the vengeance of the dog, the insidious malice of the cat, the claws of the vulture, nor the sting of the serpent. It has been asserted, (upon what foundation we cannot ascertain) that the Ichneumon jumps into the jaws of the crocodile, and entering his throat, gnaws his inside, and by attacking his very vitals, puts the animal to death.
