1910.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 465 



literature, and there is mention of its growing to over ten feet in 

 length; and that its skin was formerly much used for drum-heads. 

 It is, however, generally spoken of as being from five to six feet long. 

 It may have existed formerly in various parts of China, and we are 

 told that the "Canton Annals" say that the head can be cut off and 

 dried before the animal dies, the muzzle can be broken into pieces 

 and all the teeth pulled out, and still it lives, the Cantonese having 

 a remarkable belief in the creature's great tenacity of life, the scales 

 of the "dragon" are used as medicine. The}^ are supposed to cure 

 diseases of the heart and intestines, fevers and female disorders, 

 diseases arising from fear, nose-bleeding and toothache. They are 

 also valued as a vermifuge, as a remedy for goitre and skin diseases. 

 Fauvel notes its history in Chinese literature since the Wu dynasty, 

 or from about 222-27 A.D. Curiously enough it has been very little 

 mentioned in foreign works on China. Marco Polo and Father M. 

 Martini both knew of it; but the former spoke only from hearsay, 

 while the priest derived his information from native literature (Martini, 

 Atlas Sinensis, Amsterdam, 1656). In Martini we find the following: 

 "Ad urbis ortum est lacus parvus Go, in quo olim Rex Pegao decern 

 aluit crocodilos, quibus, ut devorarentur objicere solebat reos et 

 sceleratos; ab iis innocentes numquam laesos fuisse narrant, adeoque, 

 quos crocodili non occiderent, liberi eo ipso, tanquam vacantes omni 

 culpa abire jubebantur." Martini also tells us that at Chingkiang 

 they infested the river to the great terror of the people. 



Morrison, in his monumental Chinese dictionary, states positively 

 that crocodiles occur in the Yangtse River; and Wells Williams, in 

 The Middle Kingdom also speaks of its occurrence ; but his information 

 also may have been derived from his studies of Chinese literature. 



The Shanghai Evening Courier for March 17, 1869, contains a 

 humorous account of several Englishmen who went to see a crocodile 

 exhibited in the native city of Shanghai. The Chinese who had it 

 said that it came from the mountains of Kiangsi. The Europeans 

 presumed that it had been brought from Siam, however, and vaguely 

 suggested that they might possibly be looking at a new species, little 

 realizing that they actually were. 



Fauvel has collected much other data. He states, for instance, 

 that he received a letter from Mr. Reynolds, also in the Customs 

 service, who saw a tame one in a temple pool near Nanking in April, 

 1853. Several were reported seen in the Yangtse near Chingkiang 

 by officers of gunboats and river steamers; while others were said 

 to have been kept alive in temples thereabouts. It seems that it 



