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with one of a darker colour, found alfo on the coafts of Perfia and Arabia, where it is known by the improper name of the Flying Serpent. Serpent amphibana, or doublebeaded Serpent. Some of the reptiles, claffed under this name, are found in the Indies; their colour is a deep dirty brown, mixed with a tint of yellow, their fpóts fomething darker; their head is narrow, and rounded on the fides; and their body, which is feldom more than a foot long, is nearly, from one end to the other, about the thickness of the thumb. One confequence of this formation is, that at a distance the tail may appear to have been cut off, or may look like another head I fay at a distance, for in fact it has, at this extremity, a pointed bit of flesh that refembles the beginning of a lizard's tail, and which being plucked off, begins to grow again. Béfides, as they feldom remove far from the crevices of rocks, or old ruins, it is very poffible, that they may have been feen at the entry of their holes retiring backwards. However this may be, and without pretending to deny the poffibility of fuch fports of nature, it is certain, and I am myself a witness of it, that the species to which they have given the name of double-headed Serpents, has, in reality, but one head. I never knew any person who had been bit by them, but I have been affured their poifon is not more dangerous than that of the hooded Serpent.

Serpent poison, or poifon Serpent. Among the Serpents of India, that which I believe to be moft formidable is but about two feet long, and very small. Its fkin is freckled with little traits of brown, or a pale

red, and contrafted with a ground of dirty yellow: it is moftly found in dry and rocky places, and its bite mortal in less than one or two minutes. In the year 1759, and in the province of Cadapet, I faw feveral inítances of it; and among others, one very fingular, in the midst of a corps of troops, commanded by M. de Buffy. An Indian Gentoo merchant perceived a Mahometan foldier of his acquaintance going to kill one of these reptiles, which he had found fleeping under his packet. The Gentoo flew to beg its life, protesting, that it would do no hurt if it was not first provoked; paffing, at the fame time, his hand under its belly to carry it out of the camp, when fuddenly it twisted round, and bit his little finger; upon which this unfortunate martyr of a fanatic charity gave a fhriek, took a few steps, and fell down infenfible. They flew to his affiftance, applied the ferpent-ftone, fire, and scarifications, but they were all ineffectual, his blood was already coagulated. About an hour after I faw the body as they were going to burn it, and I thought I perceived fome indications of a complete diffolution of the blood.

I do not believe there are many Gentoos enthufiaftic enough to become the victims of fuch abfurd be.. nevolence; feveral, at prefent, make no great difficulty of killing these Serpents, or at least of feeing them killed. It is however certain, that most of them are unwilling to aífift in killing the hooded Serpent, and efpecially thofe which creep into, and are therefore under the protection of their temples.

Serpent brulan, or burning Serpent. This reptile is nearly of the fame

form

form with the laft-mentioned; its fkin is not quite fo deep a brown, and is fpeckled with dark green fpots; its poifon is almoft as dangerous, but it is lefs active, and its effects are very different: in fome perfons it is a devouring fire, which, as it circulates through the veins, prefently occafions death; the blood diffolves into a lymphatic liquor, resembling thin broth, without apparently having paffed through the intermediate ftate of coagulation, and runs from eyes, nofe, and ears, and even through the pores. In other fubjects, the poifon feems to have changed the very nature of the humours in diffolving them; the fkin is chapped, and becomes fcaly, the hair falls off, the members are tumified, the patient feels all over his body the most racking pains, then numbness, and is not long in perishing. It is faid, however, that people have been cured by remedies well and foon applied. Be that as it may, it feems to me, that the poifon of thefe different reptiles is in general more powerful, the more they live in hot and dry places, where they feed upon infects that are full of faline, volatile, and acrimonious particles.

Serpent nain, or dwarf Serpent. One day, as I was removing fome ftones in the Indies, I found two of these little animals, which at firft fight might be taken for worms. I took up the ftrongest, and amufed myself fome time in confidering it with attention. Its body was near five inches long, and about the fixth part of an inch in diameter; and I afterwards learnt, that it rarely exceeds fix inches in length. Its fkin was a dirty brown, spotted on the fides with small lengthened points of a darker colour; the belly was

thinly fpeckled, and of a fomething lighter colour, like the generality of reptiles. Its eyes, notwithstanding their exceffive fmallness, were apparently black and sparkling; its mouth was exceedingly wide, infomuch that without the leaft violence I could introduce a body of more than a line in diameter; its teeth were as fine as the points of needies, but fo fhort and compact, that it did not appear poffible for it to bite a man, or at least for it to penetrate beyond the epidermis. The chief of the village where I was, told me, that the only thing to be apprehended from this infect was, left it fhould introduce itself into the mouth or noftrils.

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Serpent titan, or giant Serpent:The mountains leaft frequented in India and other parts of Afia, ferve for the retreat of a race of Serpents that I call Titan, because they grow to the length of twenty and twentyfive feet, and even, according to fome, to half as much more. never faw but one young one, fhut up in a cage, and exceedingly ill at his eafe. It was eleven or twelve feet long, and fourteen or fifteen inches in circumference; its skin was a tawny ground, but fpeckled with colours richly varied, though rather dark. They fay this reptile furprizes and feeds upon large animals; but whatever may be faid upon this fubject, its form seems to indicate, that its ftrength cannot be compared to that of a crocodile of equal fize: and as it is heavy, and not common, it is, in reality, one of the leaft dangerous of its tribe. I may add, with refpect to these animals, that in all the species I have obferved, those which were of the two extremes of fize, large and fmall, were feweft in number.

Natural

Natural Hiftory of the Ichneumon *; from the fame Work.

"TH

HE ancients have obferved, that the Ichneumon is one of the most formidable enemies of the crocodile at his birth; for after he has left the egg, he is in daily danger of being devoured by it for the first months. Not that I fuppofe the ichneumon to have any particular and instinctive antipathy to the crocodile: he equally attacks all species of reptiles, and does not spare even rats or poultry. I had one of them very young, and brought it up: I fed it at firft with milk, and afterwards with baked meat mixed with rice; and caftrated it at four months old. It became tamer than a cat, for it came when called, and followed me, though at liberty, into the country.

One day I brought him a fmall water-ferpent alive, being defirous to know how far his inftinct would carry him against a being with which he was hitherto unacquainted. His firft emotion feemed to be aftonishment mixed with anger, for his hair became erect, but in an inftant after he flipped behind the reptile, and with a remarkable fwiftnefs and agility leaped upon its head, feized it, and crushed it between his teeth. This effay and new aliment feemed to have awakened in him his innate and deftructive voracity, which, till then, had given way to the gentlenefs of his education. I had about my house several curious kinds of

fowls, among which he had been brought up, and which, till then, he had fuffered to go and come unmolefted and unregarded; but a few days after, when he found himself alone, he ftrangled them every one, eat a little, and, as it feemed to me, had drank the blood of two.

The Ichneumon may attain the fize of a common cat, but is fomething longer in the body, and shorter in the legs; its fur contains tints of white, of brown, of fawn-colour, and of a dirty grey filver. These shades, which are on each hair, compose a whole, which, though not foft to the touch, is agreeable to the eye. Its form, and particularly the head, is fomething like that of the polecat; its eyes are small, but inflamed, and fparkle with a fingular vivacity; its nails are not very pointed, nor do they extend and contract like those of the cat, but as its claws are rather long, it feizes between its paws, and retains with force, the prey that it devours.

As it is a great deftroyer of reptiles, it is very poffible that it may fometimes receive a bite, in which cafe it is pretended, that it has recourfe to the plant which is called after its name; but as it fubfifts, and always with the fame inclinations, in many places where this plant is not at hand, and is not even to be found, perhaps it is the flesh of the reptiles which ferves for an antidote, or perhaps it is the quality of its blood not to be affected by this kind of poison."

*The Ichneumon, better known by the name of Mangout among the In dian Europeans, is called Tkill, in Malabar; and Monegoueffe, in Tamoul.

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VOL. XXVIII,

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Natural

Natural History of the Thevangua, or Tatonneur *; from the fame.

"THE Thevangua lives retired among the rocks and woods of the moft folitary and fouthern parts of India, and in the ifland of Ceylon. Notwithstanding fome fimilarity of organization, he neither appertains to the monkey nor makis fpecies. This race is pure, feparate, and distinct, as well in conformation as in faculties and manners; and as he is little known, I shall give some defcription of his form, and particularly of his characteristic habits.

The Thevangua is quadrumane, and would be well defcribed by the name of the pigmy cynocephalus nightwalker. In 1755 one of thofe Indian pioneers, who always wander with their families, fold me one. He was not quite a foot high when erect, though I have heard they are fometimes a little taller: mine was quite formed, and, during a year that I kept him, I could not find that he had increased in height. His ears and the back part of his head refembled thofe of the monkey, but his front was proportionably

large and more flattened; his nose, as flender and more short than that of the pole-cat, projected just below the eyes, fomething like the muzzle of a fmall Spanish dog; his mouth, exceedingly wide and well garnifhed, was armed with four long and pointed canine teeth; his eyes large, and even with the face, the iris apparently of a brown-grey, mixed with a tint of yellow; his neck fhort, his body very long, and his fize, above his hips, at least three inches in circumference. I had him caftrated, and his tefticles, though proportionably very large, were abfolutely fhut up in the belly; his penis was well detached from his body, and covered with a prepuce..

Many other parts, likewise, of thefe fingular animals, appear to be formed in miniature on the model of man. Thus they have no tail, their buttocks are fleshy, and without callofities; their breast large, their hands and arms well turned, and fo are their legs, except that their great toes are too much separated, like thofe of the monkey +; the hair of their head and back is of a dirty

* The animal I defcribe by the name of Tatonneur (creeper) on account of his mode of walking, is well characterized in India by the Tamoul word Thevangua. He is called Tongre likewife; that is to fay, the fleeper. This is the animal which M. de Buffon has called Loris (after the article Makis) which name was given it by the Dutch, who saw it in the island of Ceylon. I prefume, that at a distance they imagined they discovered a refemblance between the cry of this animal and that of a parrot, really called Loris, which is found in the ifles to the east of India. Such resemblances naturally occafion misunderstand, ings.

The figure of the Thevangua, or Loris, in M. de Buffon, is very correct, except that the bones, and especially the articulations of the hands and feet, do not appear fo prominent in the living animal. But fuch little irregularities are to be found in the features of every subject, as soon as the flesh and muscles become dry, and are deprived of that roundness which gives beauty and proportion. M. de Buffon, in the fhort description he has given of this animal, mentions a remarkable circumftance, and perhaps unique, which is," that the female urine's

a dirty grey, a little inclinable to the fawn; but on the fore-part of their body it is much lefs deep and thick, and leaves the flesh vifible, which is of a soft, fair, and animated colour.

The Thevangua ufually goes on all fours, but with a kind of conftraint, infomuch, that when he wishes to make hafte, he scarcely runs four fathoms in a minute, which tardiness originates in his conformation and habits; his legs and thighs, as well as man's, are apparently too long to run after the manner of quadrupedes; and it has always feemed to me, that when the one I had was obliged, by carrying fomething in his arms, to walk upright, he went with greater freedom.

This animal has a modulation in his voice, a kind of whiftling tha is not unpleafant. I could eafily diftinguish the cry of pain or pleafure, or even that of chagrin or impatience: if, for example, I pretended to rob him of his prey, his countenance changed, and he inwardly uttered a tremulous, more acute, and painful tone. The Indian, of whom I bought mine, told me, that their mode of copulation was face to face, clofe, and crouching on their hams.

The Thevangua differs greatly from the monkey in his exterior form, but more ftill in his character and manners. He is by nature melancholy, filent, patient, carnivorous, and noctambulous. Retired, and living only with his little family, he remains crouching all day, with his head refting upon his hands, and his elbows between his thighs. But in the midst of this fleep, or ftate of inertia, though his eyes are closed, his ears remain exceedingly fenfible to all impreffions from without, and he never neglects to feize whatever prey fhall inconfiderately venture within his reach. Though I believe the glare of the fun difpleafes him, yet I never could find that the pupil of his eye fuffered any extraordinary contraction, or was fatigued by day-light. It is, without doubt, this happy conformation which preferves him, though feeble and flow, from other ferocious beafts, and gives him a fuperiority over the lefs and nimbler creatures, on which he ufually feeds.

I kept mine, during the firft month, tied round the waift by a cord, which, without attempting to untie, he fometimes lifted up with an air of grief. I took charge of him myfelf, and he bit me at the

urines through the clitoris, which has a paffage like the penis of the male, and thefe two parts have a perfect refemblance both in length and thickness."

Having never heard of this fingularity in India, I confefs I made no enquiries on the fubject; and if the remark has been tranfmitted to Europe by an exact obferver, I am wrong to doubt the fact. I will relate, however, what has ftruck me on this matter, with refpect to wild fhe-apes: many of thefe have the clitoris fo long, that it often projects forward, and, at firit fight, appears like the penis of the male; but it is not fo fituated, has no paffage, and is lefs. If we fuppofe that the female Thevangua fometimes has this final mufcular body, equally projecting, it is not at all impoffible, but that a traveller, not very attentive, and perhaps a little in love with the marvellous, may have imagined he has really feen them urine through that part. However, I fhould be far from denying a fact, because it was a little more or lefs out of the common order of nature. I enly mention my fufpicions.

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