REPTTLIA. 15s 



ORDER, CROCODILIA. 



FAMILY, CROCODILID.'E. 

 Crocodilus vidgaris. Cuv. Oss. Foss. v. 42. The Crocodile. 



It was long questioned whether it were possible that the Crocodile was 

 still to be found in Palestine. That it had formerly existed there seemed 

 evident, both from tradition and from the fact that a river rising in a 

 swamp to the south of Mount Carmel, and entering the sea at the north 

 of the Plain of Sharon, is known as the Zerka, or Crocodile River. It is 

 mentioned by Pliny and Strabo, and Pococke, in the last century, speaks 

 of its capture. I had often heard of it from the Arabs, who aver that it 

 frequently steals their young kids when they go to water in the marshes ; 

 and I saw footprints in the mud, near the head marshes not far from 

 Samaria, which left not the smallest doubt that a Crocodile of large size had 

 been there very shortly before. The promise of a reward produced its effect, 

 and very soon after a fine specimen was brought by my friends into 

 Nazareth, in a state of such decay that only the bones and the head could 

 be preserved. It measured 1 1 feet 6 inches in length, and the skull, which 

 is before me as I write, is 19 "5 inches long. When I look at my Croco- 

 dile's head, brought home by myself, and read the long disquisitions 

 written in various languages as to the possibility of the Crocodile inhabit- 

 ing Palestine, I feel that an ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory. 



Mr. McGregor believes he saw a Crocodile in the Kishon, on the 

 Plain of Acre. This is not impossible, though it has never been reported 

 to be found to the north of Carmel. No doubt the Crocodiles in the 

 Zerka must be very few in number, and on the verge of extinction. 



Palestine is the only country beyond the limits of Africa where the 

 Egyptian Crocodile is found, but it inhabits all the great rivers and the 

 coast of the whole of that Continent, from the Nile to the Cape ; and 

 occurs along the whole west coast as well as in the upper waters of the 

 feeders of the Niger. 



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