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to project its abominably disgusting secretion to a considerable distance, like the skunk. Of this latter animal I have had some most unpleasant experiences in South America. Long before I made the personal acquaintance of a skunk, I had heard many descriptions of the horrible effects of an encounter with the creature, and felt rather disposed to twit the narrators with the possession of a too squeamish stomach. It was not an easy matter for one whose organs of scent had never been assaulted by anything much worse than the odour of decomposed pigwhich is assuredly bad of its kind-to credit the assertion that men had been made thoroughly ill, and deprived of all taste for food for days after receiving on their clothing the ejection from a skunk's anal gland. At all events, I did not in the least realise the possibility of this until I had had olfactory demonstration of the fearful smell the beast can make.

Coming home one day, jaded and hungry, just in time for dinner, I walked into the sitting-room of the "Estancia" house, and before I had time to recover from my surprise at seeing no preparations for the meal, I was literally almost knocked down by what I may, without serious exaggeration, term a blast of stink such as no adjective, even in the richly expletive Spanish language, could describe. Rushing out of the room, I met the Basque cook carrying a dish towards the wool-shed, who, seeing my disconcerted expression, broke out into a broad grin. "Where are you going? I asked. "Dinner in the wool-shed to-day," he replied laconically, with the grin still on his face. At the door of the wool-shed I met Don T--, who with a bland smile inquired whether I would like my dinner served in the house with the skunk. He then explained that one of these brutes had either gone into or under the house, and behaved himself after the manner of his kind, and thus rendered it uninhabitable for some time at least. We had to live as best we could in the wool-shed, until the place had been "deodorised" by burning dry cow-dung on the mud floor, and shutting all the doors and windows. I never went into the house again for three days, and then the prepotency of the skunk asserted itself over the cow

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dung to such an extent that it was scarcely possible to remain in the sitting-room.

This introduction to Mephitis, with which I should have been well content, was soon to be followed by a more intimate acquaintance. Riding home one moonlight night, my horse hesitated at a bit of soft ground, and, knowing his habit—perhaps he had been badly bogged at one time-I struck the spurs hard into him, being well aware that the place was only fetlock deep. At that instant a dark object started from under his feet, and I was overwhelmed by that once "felt," never-to-beforgotten stench! The horse, no doubt, had perceived the brute, and would have avoided it, but my unfortunate irritation had driven him on, and we got the whole benefit of the skunk's discharge. What the horse thought of it I do not know, though he did not appear disconcerted. For myself, it was misery to ride another half hour with that reeking stench under my nostrils. On arriving home, I turned out the horse, shuffled off my trousers and boots (which certainly had received some of it), left them on the grass, and appeared to my astonished friends, who had just sat down to a game of "cut throat euchre," totally denuded of clothing as to my nether man. The laughter having subsided, the case was considered one worthy of some commiseration. No one else of the party had ever suffered equal misfortune, or, I may say, incurred the indignity inflicted on me, by that contemptible beast. I had to give one of the peons a dollar to burn the trousers next day-they were past saving— and scrub the boots for a couple of hours with soap and soda. However, I could not make up my mind to wear them again, and it is doubtful whether anyone ever rode that horse again. Whenever a mount was wanted, and the peon asked which he should saddle up, the answer always contained the caution, "but mind, not that dark grey."

The secretion must apparently be protective, otherwise the animal would not, as I believe is invariably the case when surprised or alarmed, wait to make use of it before attempting to escape. Some dogs, I have been told, will run into a skunk and

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worry him in spite of the warning discharge, but others are certainly strongly affected by it. Thus, my own retriever made a strong "point" one day in short grass, as I was strolling round on foot to look at the young lambs in a flock camped near the house. Having no gun, I called the dog off, and as he moved a skunk showed himself, and curving his back slightly, much in the manner of a cat, when in the retromingent attitude, shot a stream of fluid in the direction of the dog, very little of which touched him. It was with considerable surprise that I noticed how great a distance the creature was capable of squirting this -at least ten feet. Pulling out my revolver, I was about to draw a bead on the beast, when it made for me, and the next moment saw me in full flight before the possessor of such an abominably offensive weapon. Rallying, after a short run, a couple of shots from my revolver brought the enemy to bag— well, scarcely that, for I viewed the corpse at a respectful distance to windward, and admired the pretty skin, while fully appreciating the force of the adage, “ Noli me tangere.”

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So powerfully had the scent affected the dog's olfactory nerves, and by sympathy, his salivary glands, that his mouth was covered with froth, although he had been but slightly touched by the discharge. To make sure, I gave him a thorough washing with soft soap, and afterwards a long swim in the river; but, even then, there was something more than a suspicion of the odour about him for some days. Violent and dangerous inflammation of the eyes, both in man and the dog, has been known to result from contact with the secretion of this animal. Some observers have asserted that, when about to discharge the fluid, the skunk faces the enemy, raises its tail, and lets the wind carry the discharge over its back. Were that the case, the protection must obviously be useless in calm weather, and in some other circumstances. I do not believe it physically possible, and I have always seen the skunk turn his tail to the enemy, and squirt out the secretion in a thin stream to an astonishing distance. Notwithstanding the evil smell of these animals, they are trapped in large numbers for the sake of their furs, the

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Hudson Bay Company alone having sent over 6000 skins into the market in a single year. Such is the force of association, that I can never see skunk's fur, as trimming on a lady's dress, without becoming immediately conscious of the odour, although, as a matter of fact, it has been totally eliminated from the prepared skin.

Perhaps the most interesting of the viverride is the "mungoos," or ichneumon, Herpestes griseus, on account of its reputed immunity from the poison of venomous serpents. It is still a part of the Anglo-Indian's creed in natural history, that this little animal is impervious to the bite of the most deadly snake. This is supposed by some to be due to the presence, in its blood, of some prophylactic; while others attribute it to the effect of a certain-or rather uncertain-plant which the animal is said to seek out and eat immediately after its encounter with the snake. Sir Emerson Tennent sums up the matter so ably, that I cannot do better than quote his words. After remarking that the natives of Ceylon attach no credit to the European superstition, he continues: "There is no doubt that in its conflicts with the Cobra de Capello and other poisonous snakes, which it attacks with as little hesitation as the harmless ones, it may be seen occasionally to retreat, and even to retire into the jungle, and, it is added, eat some vegetable; but a gentleman, who has been a frequent observer of its exploits, assures me that most usually the herb it resorted to was grass; and if this were not at hand, any other that grew near seemed equally acceptable. Hence has probably arisen the long list of plants-such as the Ophioxylon serpentinum and Ophiorhiza mungos, the Aristolochia indica, the Mimosa octandru, and others-each of which has been asserted to be the ichneumon's specific; whilst their multiplicity is demonstrative of the non-existence of any one in particular to which the animal resorts as a specific. Were there any truth in the tale as regards the mungoos, it would be difficult to understand why other creatures, such as the secretary bird and the falcon, which equally destroy serpents, should be left defenceless, and

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the ichneumon alone provided with a prophylactic. Besides, were the ichneumon inspired by that courage which would result from the consciousness of security, it would be so indifferent to the bite of the serpent, that we might conclude that both in its approaches and its assault it would be utterly careless as to the precise mode of its attack. Such, however, is far from being the case; and, next to its audacity, nothing is more surprising than the adroitness with which it escapes the spring of the snake, under a due sense of danger, and the cunning with which it makes its arrangements to leap upon the back, and fasten its teeth in the head of the cobra."-" Ceylon," fourth edition, 1860, p. 145 (Longman).

I have spoken with several who have witnessed these contests, and who can be trusted to report what they see, not what they imagine, and they unanimously support Tennent's view in every particular. At my request, an Indian friend sacrificed two of his cobras for the purpose of making a careful examination of the question. He wrote, "The tournament came off last week, and I wish you could have been here to see it. I prepared the lists by driving a dozen stakes firmly into the ground, and surrounding them with canvas, made snake-proof by letting the slack at the bottom into a trench a few inches deep, and filling in tightly with earth. A few nails driven into the posts at intervals made all secure, and we had an inclosure 12ft. across, about 5ft. high, and circular, so that neither of the champions could be 'cornered' by the other, while we could see everything comfortably over the top. I turned one of my cobras in, and the man with the mungoos arrived soon afterwards and dropped him into the inclosure. Both combatants were in good fettle, and they went at it in an instant, the snake for choice leading off. I never saw anything like the quickness of both-the repeated dashes of the cobra, and the still quicker springs of the mungoos. They were all over the inclosure in a moment, and I thought it was any odds that the animal must at last get that fatal blow driven home by the reptile. Still they kept at it, and we all thought the

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