326 LEAVES FROM THE 



without leaving the water ; though the latter repairs to 

 the land for the purpose of devouring such land animals 

 as it may have succeeded in surprising and drowning, 

 after they have undergone such a degree of decomposi- 

 tion as renders their fibre tender and more easily divided 

 by crocodilian teeth. With all due submission, then, to 

 the high authority of the great French zoologist, his 

 position may be doubted ; and, indeed, the careful adapta- 

 tion of a part of its organization to the requirements 

 of the animal goes far to contradict it. This conforma- 

 tion we shall endeavour to explain with as little techni- 

 cality as possible. 



If the interior of the mouth of a crocodile or alligator 

 be examined, the roof of the palate will be found nearly 

 flat, and not pierced by the extremities of the nasal 

 fossce, as in the greater number of other reptiles. No ; 

 the posterior nasal apertures open in the pharynx behind 

 the palatine veil, which is sufficiently elongated to over- 

 spread that portion of the roof which is in front of the 

 glottis, or opening of the windpipe. Indeed, it is pro- 

 bable that the crocodiles are the only reptiles that have 

 a true pharynx — in other words, a vestibule common to 

 the mouth, the posterior nostrils, the larynx or windpipe, 

 and the oesophagus or gullet. This arrangement of the 

 parts in combination with the muscular structure of the 

 tongue, the bone of which, or os hyoides, has a peculiar 

 expansion, produces a sort of disk or valve, which can 

 be lifted and applied to the velum palati above, so as 

 effectually to protect the glottis, and perform the office 

 of the e2nglottis in mammiferous animals, conferring on 

 the crocodile a peculiar power of deglutition and respira- 

 tion when it has seized its prey below the surface of the 

 water, or has dragged it down from the land. The same 

 admirable machinery comes also into play in carrying on 

 respiration, when the animal lies with its muzzle alone 

 above the surface of the water. 



The eggs of the crocodile are covered with a hard 



