THE CROCODILE. 29 



There is rather a curious structure in the vertebrae of the neck. These bones are furnished 

 with short, transverse processes like false ribs, which have the effect of preventing the animal 

 from turning its head from side to side. On land, therefore, where its feeble limbs are so 

 inadequate to the support of the long and heavy body, it can easily be avoided by any one of 

 ordinary agility. The eyes are large, and set rather far back upon the head. The ears are 

 carefully guarded from the ingress of water by a pair of tightly-closing valves. Below the 

 throat are a pair of glands which secrete a substance having a strong musky scent which is 

 very disagreeable, and in old individuals taint the whole flesh with its rank odor, and render 

 it uneatable to ordinary palates. 



The young of these reptiles are hatched from eggs, which are strangely small in proportion 

 to the large dimensions of the adult animal, the newly-hatched offspring being so small as 

 hardly to be recognized as belonging to the same species as their parents, especially as there 

 are certain differences of shape hereafter to be mentioned. 



These great reptiles are divided, or rather fall naturally, into two families, namely, the 

 Crocodiles and the Alligators. All the members of these families can be easily distinguished by 

 the shape of their jaws and teeth, the lower canine teeth of the Crocodiles fitting into a notch in 

 the edge of the upper jaw, and those of the Alligators fitting into a pit in the upper jaw. This 

 peculiarity causes an obvious difference in the outline of the head, the muzzle of the Crocodiles 

 being narrowed behind the nostrils, while that of the Alligators forms an unbroken line to the 

 extremity. A glance, therefore, at the head will suffice to settle the family to which any 

 species belongs. In the Crocodiles, moreover, the hind legs are fringed behind with a series 

 of compressed scales. 



OUR first example of the Crocodiles is the very remarkable GAVIAL, or GANGETIC CROCO- 

 DILE, sometimes known by the name of NAKOO. 



This curious reptile is one of the largest, if not the very largest of its order, sometimes 

 reaching a length of twenty-five feet. As its popular name imports, it is a native of India, 

 and swarms in many of the Indian rivers, the Ganges being greatly infested with its presence. 

 It is a striking animal, the extraordinary length of its muzzle giving it a most singular and 

 rather grotesque aspect. 



This prolongation of the head varies considerably according to the age and sex of the 

 individual. In the young Gavial, for example, just hatched from the egg, the head is short 

 and blunt, and only attains its full development when the creature has reached adult age. 

 The males can be distinguished from the other sex by the shape of the muzzle, which is much 

 smaller at the extremity. There are many teeth, the full complement being about one 

 hundred and twenty. They are similar in appearance, and about equal in length. 



The color of this species is dark olive-brown, spotted with black. Several species of 

 African Gavials are known to zoologists, besides the Asiatic animal, but on account of the 

 different formation of the head, such as the absence of a swollen muzzle in the male, and some 

 important variations in the plates of the neck and back, they are placed in another genus, and 

 termed False Gavials. Two other Crocodiles are named, BENNETT'S GAVIAL (Mecistops ben- 

 nettii), which is an inhabitant of Western Africa, and the FALSE GAVIAL (Mecistops cataphrac- 

 tus). Some naturalists, however, think that these animals are only varieties of the same 

 species. The False Gavial is represented in the engraving on next page. 



WE now arrive at the true Crocodiles, in which the jaws are moderately lengthened, wide, 

 flat, tapering, and rather dilated at the extremities. The most peculiar of these reptiles is 

 the long-celebrated CROCODILE of Northern Africa. 



This terrible creature is found chiefly in the Nile, where it absolutely swarms, and though 

 a most destructive and greatly dreaded animal, is without doubt as valuable in the water as 

 the hyena and vulture upon the land. Living exclusively on animal food, and rather pre- 

 ferring tainted or even putrefying to fresh meat, it is of great service in devouring the dead 

 animals that would otherwise pollute the waters and surrounding atmosphere. 



It also feeds on fish, which it can catch by means of its great swiftness in the water, 



