Ichneumon

ik-nu'mon, a weasel-shaped animal of tropical countries. The name is Greek, meaning the tracker. The Egyptian species is somewhat longer than a cat, but is much more slender. It is an active, yellowish animal with black muzzle and paws. It is exceeding valuable for the destruction of the rats and mice that infest a grain-raising country, and especially for the deadly warfare it carries on with poisonous snakes. It follows along the shores, and limits the increase of the crocodile by digging up its eggs. It is known also as Pharaoh's rat. See Mongoose