CROCODILIDAE 



461 



The Nile Crocodile is essentially African, ranging from the 

 Senegal to the Cape jiiuI tn l\<j,ypt. Tt is also very common in 

 ]\Iadagascar. Nothing is known about its occurrence in Araljia, 

 but a few specimens of 

 rather small size seem 

 still to exist in Syria, 

 in the Wadi Zerka, an 

 eastern tributary of 

 the Jordan. 



Even ill historical 

 times the Crocodile 

 must have been very 

 common in lower Egypt, 

 to judge from the 

 number of mummies 

 preserved by the old 

 Egyptians. Now it is 

 practically extermi- 

 nated, and there are 

 scarcely any left l)elow 

 Wadi Haifa. 



Such a conspicuous 

 and dangerous creature 

 has naturally always 

 enjoyed notoriety. It 

 is well described in one 

 of the oldest writings 

 of the world, the Book 

 of Job. " Canst thou 

 draw out leviathan 

 with 



in liook ? or his Fig. 1 10. — Ycwtral vitiw ofayoxmg Crocodihisiiilvticus, 



. , n showing the arraugemeut of the bony scutes ami 



tongue Wltil a cord ^^j^^. ^^^.^ openings of the nnisk-glands on tlie lower 



which thou lettest j^iw. Tlie upper right-hand figure shows on a larger 



, scale the disposition of the nuchal scutes and the 



down ? . . . His scales ^rst row of dorsal scutes. 



are his pride, shut up 



together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that 

 no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, 

 they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. . . . Lay 

 thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more." Bows 

 and arrows, spears and clubs, are of little avail against such a 



