THE CROCODILE AND LITTLE RING-PLOVER. 143 



distinctive characters of it. It is, however, particularly distin- 

 guished by its longer jaws, whence its Latin name of Crocodilus 

 acutus ; it also has the tongue longer, and therefore more com- 

 pletely enveloped in the interior and exterior integuments 

 which are distributed between the maxillary branches. Here 

 there is another crocodile, which, deprived of the use of its 

 tongue, is unable to perform those actions which are neces- 

 sary to preserve its palate in good preservation, — the same 

 causes, and the same effects. Insects which are equally hurt- 

 ful, if indeed they are not perfectly identical, called marin- 

 gouins at St. Domingo, exist there as in Egypt. The cro- 

 codile of St. Domingo, in like manner coming to repose 

 upon the sloping banks of rivers, is then equally exposed to 

 the same torments as the crocodile of the Nile, and conse- 

 quently requires the same assistance. But are these latter 

 also administered by the little plover ? This bird lives on the 

 main land. However these may be, birds of similar habits, 

 feeding upon the spawn of fish, on larvae and small insects, 

 are seen in every country, continually engaged in the search 

 after this minute kind of nourishment, hopping about and 

 running from place to place, and never neglecting to feast 

 themselves whenever they have the opportunity. This oppor- 

 tunity is afforded by the mosquitoes, which never fail to at- 

 tack the crocodile ; they penetrate into his mouth, and cover 

 the whole of its surface. The bird which performs this good 

 office for the crocodile of St. Domingo, is, they say, the 

 todier, a smaller species than the Charadrius JEgyptius, with 

 a weak, depressed, and much flattened bill. It can then with- 

 out difficulty enter the crocodile's mouth, and having finished 

 its repast, come forth again in the same way. Except that it 

 is another species that performs the part of the little plover, 

 these are the same scenes as occur in Egypt, — a repetition of 

 the same habits. This coincidence of manners was noticed by 

 M. Descourtils, who staid for some time at St. Domingo, 

 and who, hearing of my researches on this subject, did not 

 fail to give the same direction to his own, of which science 

 has happily just reaped the fruits. 



" Neither of these crocodiles, which are equally deprived of 

 the use of their tongue as an organ of motion, can supply its 

 place by a recourse to their fore legs ; these are too stiff, and very 

 much too 'short to reach to the mouth. Nature, then, has form- 

 ed the crocodile without the means of providing personally 

 for its own well-being, for the care of its own preservation. 

 In this case, being miserably abandoned to the bites of these 

 insects, which, though very minute in size, are, by a singular 

 concurrence of circumstances, rendered very formidable, it 

 must follow that the crocodile would sink under the accumu- 



