218 ALLIGATOR. 



over them. After having continued here for about three 

 months, they each emerge from their little prison, com- 

 pletely formed. 



3. LIZARD TRIBE. 



Crocodile. The abhorrence in which these tremendous 

 animals are held by the inhabitants of some countries, is 

 indescribable. Their length is often nearly thirty feet. 

 Their mouths are of horrible width. They swim with 

 great rapidity, but, from their unwieldy form, are not 

 able to turn suddenly round. This circumstance gives to 

 persons who are attacked by them, an opportunity to es- 

 cape. Their skin is so hard on every part, except the 

 belly, as to be impenetrable by a musket-ball. At a cer- 

 tain season of the year, the female scratches a large hole 

 in the sand, and deposits there her eggs, which are gene- 

 rally about a hundred in number, of the size of those of 

 a goose, and each covered with a strong parchment-like 

 membrane. Immense numbers of these are every year 

 destroyed by the ichneumons and vultures. There is a 

 notion, but it is an erroneous one, that both jaws of the 

 Crocodile are movable ; since it has been correctly 

 ascertained, that the motion is altogether confined to the 

 under jaw. Amongst the ancient Egyptians this animal 

 was held sacred, and offerings were made to it, as to a 

 deity. At the present day, Crocodiles are found in great 

 abundance in the Nile, and in several of the other rivers 

 of Africa. 



Alligator. In nearly all its habits, the Alligator 

 resembles the crocodile. It is, however, not quite so 

 large, and is exclusively confined to the rivers and 



