WEASEL. Although under the head CHOLED v.,e have given mole as its synonym, yet such is the vagueness of Oriental denominations, and the ne cessity of noticing certain species which, from their importance, cannot well be supposed to have been altogether disregarded in the Bible, that in this place a few words descriptive of the species of Viverridx and Mustelidx, known to reside in and near Palestine, and supposed to be collectively de signated by the term tzigint, may not be irrelevant. They appear both anciently and among ourselves collected into a kind of group, under an impression that they belong to the feline family ; hence we, like the ancients, still use the words civet-cat, tree cat, pole-cat, etc. ; and, in reality, a considerable number of the species have partially retractile claws, the pupils of the eyes being contractile like those of cats, of which they even bear the spotted and streaked liveries. All such naturally have arboreal habits, and from their low lengthy forms are no less disposed to burrow ; but many of them, chiefly in other hemispheres, are excellent swim mers. One of these species, allied to, if not the same as, Genetta barbara, is the Thela ...Elan, by Bochart described as having various colours, and as being spotted like a pard.' In Syria it is called sephka, in Arabia zebzeb, and lives by hunting birds and shaphans. There are besides, in the same region, the nimse, ferret or pole-cat (Putorius mil garis), for these two are not specifically distinct ; fert-el-heile, the weasel (Muste vulgaris Africana), differing from ours chiefly in its superior size and darker colours. A paradoxurns, identical with or
nearly allied to P. typus, occurs in Arabia ; for it seems these animals are found wherever there are Palmiferce, the date-palm in particular being a fa vourite residence of the species. Two or three varieties, or perhaps species, of Items occur in Egypt solely ; for the name is again generical in the Arabian dialects, and denotes the ichneumon. Arabia proper has several other animals, not clearly distinguished, though belonging to the fami lies here noticed ; but which of these are the SIM giab and the sintur, or the alphanex of Ibn Omar Abdulbar, quoted by Bochart, is undetermined ; albeit they evidently belong to the tribes of vermin mammals of that region, excepting as regards the last mentioned, now known to be a kind of mini ature fox (Megabtis zerda, Ham. Smith) or fennee of Bruce, who nevertheless confounded it with Paradoxurus Opus, or an allied species which equally frequents palm-trees ; but thefamec does not climb. It is equally impossible to point out the cats, tree-cats, and civet-cats noticed by the poet Nemesianus, who was of African birth ; or by the Arabian Damir, who makes no further distinc tive mention of them [CAT].—C. H. S.