CROCODILES. I3I 
rapidity. ) The skin is coriaceous, thick, and resistant ; being covered 
with plates of different size, according to the parts of the body they 
protect. On the skull and face the skin adheres to the bone, and 
there is no trace of scales. 
The scales which defend the back and the upper part of the tail 
are square, and form hard transversal bands possessed of great 
flexibility, which prevent them from breaking. Down the centre of 
the back there is a ridge, which adds to the strength of their armour. 
Thus, Nature has provided for the safety of these animals by covering 
them with a cuirass capable of resisting anything but fire-arms. The 
plates which cover the belly, neck, tail, and legs, are also arranged in 
transversal bands, but are less hard, and not crested. Along the 
back, the colour of the Crocodile is brown interspersed with black, 
over which there is a greenish shade, becoming more decided on 
the head and flanks; the under part of the legs and belly are of a 
yellowish grey. These shades, however, vary with age and sex, and 
the nature of the water in which the animals live. 
Crocodiles ar¢ oviparous.) (The females of the Nile deposit their 
eggs where the solar heat soon brings them to maturity/CBut in 
certain countries, Such as in the neighbourhood of Cayenne and 
Surinam, (the eggs are buried under a mound of leaves and vegetable 
debris, which the Alligators form, ‘This undergoes a kind of fermen- 
tation, the result of which is an increase of temperature, which pro- 
duces the desired result. ~ 
( Lacépede describes an egg jin the Museum of Natural History in 
Paris, which was-laid by a Crocodile fourteen feet in length) killed in 
Upper Egypt. This egg is only two inches and five lines in length, 
and one inch and eleven lines in breadth.) Ut is oval and whitish. 
s shell is cretaceous in substance, like the cass of birds, but not so 
od: At the time of birth Crocodiles are only about six inches in 
length; (but their grow th is very rapid. They aon in large rivers 
and in marshes.) Being amphibious they (often come on shore to 
watch for their prey.) ) they feed on fish, mammalia, aquatic birds, 
and reptiles.’ When they have seized a large object they drag it 
under the water, where they leave it to macerate betore feeding upon 
it. If a man is carried away by a Crocodile it does not attempt to 
devour him until the body becomes decomposed. ) 
From the general structure of their framework it is difficult for 
Crocodiles or Alligators to turn round or move otherwise than {or- 
ward ; thus they can be avoided by the pursued running in a circle 
or succession of curves. An Englishman was once pursued by an 
alligator upon the banks of Lake Nicaragua, The animal was gaining 
