The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-11
QUEER ANIMALS AT THE zoo.
Recent Addition TO London's Won
derfuI Collection of Beasts.
From the London Man.

From the London Mail.
In the small cats house at the Zoo has
been placed q gray ichneumon, otherwise
known as mongoose. This is first cous-
in to the animal which eats crocodiles'
eggs on the banks of the Nile, and was
treated with almost divine honors by the
old Egyptians in consequence. 1t is not
unworthy of its relationship. The only
article of diet which it seems really to
prefer to a rat is a cobra, and il can be-
relied upon to keep ones dwelling thor
oughly free from both those undesirable
visitors It's activity is so extreme that
no serpent has a chance against it. II
attacks the largest of cobras without the.
least hesitation, lodges its stroke, and kills
IL by neat little nip just behind the
neck. Then 1t crunches up the head, pois-
en- glands and all. and goes off to look for
another. SO residents In India welcome
it warmly when it takes up it's abode In
their houses. The only thing against it is
that when rats and cobras are scarce ft
will attack almost any small creature that
may come in its way. Its tastes are very
comprehensive, for it has been known to
devour at a single meal quail, a lizard
and number of insects, and q small
wasps nest, together with part of a GUS
tard apple by way of dessert. Once IL
slew a tame bustard, which for years had
been the very joy of Its owners heart; ana
poultry and domestic pets generally have
10 be kept carefully out of its reach. Bur
It is a good-tempered little beast so lone
as it is not interfered with while It is
eating, and soon comes to be regarded al
most as member Of the family.
Thirty-seven new sknks seem good
many, yet these all reached the reptile
house recently In one day. Sinks be il
explained, are short-legged lizards, about
five inches long, whose chief peculiarity
is the extreme rapidity with which thew
can bury themselves in the sand. They
see you coming and vanish. They don't
seem to burrow or to exert themselves in
the least; they simply sink through the
sand, and If you want TO get them YOU
must dig down to a depth of four or five
feet. Nowadays they are not worth the
trouble, but few centuries back were
most valuable creatures. Doctors found
In their dried and powdered bodies a spe-
cific for almost all the ills that flesh h
heir TO- A spoonful of skink was an nm
failing remedy for the wound or a pois
oned arrow or the bite of a venorno,.s
snake. Sufferers from epilepsy when once
they tried IL never had another fit skin
diseases disappeared like magic after a
dose or two of slSink pills. Cataracts were
dissolved and worms destroyed by slxink
powder, while cancer was wholly eradi-
Gated from the systems of those who re-
sorted to the same potent remedy. 1t was
equally good for fevers for headaches.
for nerve troubles. and for the weakness
attending old age. The difficult was IL,
fact, to find any disease that il would nor
cure, while those in health could fortifv
their systems against infection of every
kind by taking IL without waiting 10 b. nj
| Indeed, the only wonder was that when
skinks were 70 be had anybody ever died.
All these thrty-seven skinks came from
| Australia and more of them seem to havs
/ been named after their discoverers. Thus
/ we have, for example Whites skink =
| Lesueurs skink, and a couple Of Cunning
ham sSinks. Clearly, the correct thing 10
do when one visits Australia Is to 20 out
] and discover a skink.