THE CRAB MUNGOOS.[87]
This animal is usually considered to be sufficiently different from the other Mungooses as to require a separate generic name. It has an almost Snake-like body, and a very long, slender snout. It is of an iron-grey colour, with a very well-marked white stripe on each side of the neck. The tail is reddish and very thick, and attains a length of eleven inches, the head and body together being eighteen inches in length.
Like the Civets, it has glands situated near the root of the tail, but these glands, instead of secreting a perfume, produce a fluid of the most abominably fetid odour, so that the beast is by no means a pleasant one to come near. Moreover, to make matters worse, the secretion of these glands does not quietly ooze out as in the Civets, but the sacs are provided with muscles, by the aid of which the animal is able to squirt out the noxious stuff to a considerable distance upon any offending person.
“This curious animal has been found in the South-east Himalayas, extending into Assam and Arakan. In its habits it is somewhat aquatic, preferring, it is said by Hodgson, Frogs and Crabs. It lives in burrows in the valleys of the lower and central regions of Nepaul.”