ICHNEUMON, the name applied to a number of small African weasel-shaped mammals belonging to the carnivorous family Viverridae, the Indian representatives being known as mongooses (q.v.). A large num ber of species of the genus Her pestes are known and range over southern Asia and all Africa, Ichneumon also occurring in South Spain. It is covered with long, harsh, tawny-grey fur, darker on the head and along the middle of the back; its legs are reddish and its feet and tail black. It lives largely on rats and mice, birds and reptiles, and for this reason it is domesticated.