302 LEAVES FEOM THE 



(Owen), of vjJiicli the hones and foot-prints characterize 

 the Upper New Red Sandstone at Grinsill, near 

 Shrewsbury, puLlislied in the seventh volume of The 

 Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 

 For the highly interesting details of this masterly paper 

 we must refer the reader to the memoir itself, which will 

 well repay an attentive perusal; suffice it to say, that this 

 Rhynchosaur turned out to be neither crocodilian, batra- 

 chian, nor chelonian, though in a degree allied to each of 

 those tribes, and that the fortunate preservation of the 

 skull brought to light modifications of the lacertine struc- 

 ture leading towards the tortoises and birds, which were 

 before unknown. 



Before we sketch the natural history of the crocodiles, 

 it may not be unamusing to pass rapidly in review some 

 of the legends with which the ancients connected a form 

 selected by the Egyptians as the symbol of a cruel and 

 revengeful being. The horrible shape and detestable dis- 

 position of the crocodile, made it an apt representative of 

 the murderer of Osiris ;* and when it was regarded as the 

 personification of Typlion, it must be confessed tliat it 

 looked the character of that evil one well, as any one will 

 allow who looks on the devilish woodcut that surmounts 

 the old French quatrain : — 



Le Nil i)ro(luit dcs monstrcs perilleux 

 Lors que d'Egyi)te arrouse le pais. 

 Mais eiitre ceux, dont sommcs esbahiz, 

 Le crocodile est le plus merveilleux. 



The sculptor has done his best to make the monster 

 look decent as he appears on the robe of the Nile in the 

 celebrated statue ; but one of the surrounding sixteen 



* Osiris, the popular divinity, the ruler of the Nile, the benign 

 dispenser of plenty, had for his antagonist and destroyer Typhon, 

 the scorching desert wind, that dried up the fructifying waters, 

 bearing famine and death on its wings, when it unseasonably pre- 

 vailed. 



