REPTILES. 269 



As these animals come forth in sunny weatKer", declved in 

 bright colours, and gifted with the power of rapid movement, 

 it is not strange that, in more southern countries, where they 

 are more numerous than here, they should be mentioned 

 among the peculiai'ities and attractions of the scenery. 



-" The green hills 



Are clothed with early blossoms, through the grass 

 The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the bills 

 Of summer-birds sing welcome as ye pass." 



CiiiLDE Harold, canto iv. st. cxvii. 



From the most popular of the order, we turn to the most 

 formidable, the Crocodiles. Of these, "the Alligators or 

 Caymans are peculiar to America, the true Crocodiles to 

 Africa, and the Gavials to Asia."* The Crocodile of the Nile 

 formed one of the innumerable idols of the ancient Egyptians. 

 His great strength is almost proverbial. " He esteemeth iron 

 as straw, and brass as rotten wood. The arrow cannot make 

 him flee ; sling-stones are turned with him into stubble. 

 Darts are counted as stubble ; he laugheth at the shaking of 

 a spear."t Yet this formidable reptile is endued with habits 

 which render him one of the great benefactors of the human 

 race. 



" In the grand polic}^ of nature, the scavengers are by no 

 means the least important agents. In hot climates especially, 

 where putrefaction advances with so much rapidity, were there 

 not efficient and active officers continually employed in speedily 

 removing all dead carcases and carrion, the air would be 

 perpetually contaminated with pestilential effluvia, and entire 

 regions rendered uninhabitable by the accumulation of putre- 

 fying flesh. Perhaps, however, no localities could be pointed 

 out more obnoxious to such a frightful cause of pestilence than 

 the banks of tropical rivers — those gigantic streams which, 

 pouring their waters from realm to realm, daily roll down 

 towards the sea the bloated remains of thousand of creatures 

 which taint the atmosphere by their decomposition." J 



Such are precisely the situations inhabited by the various 

 species of Crocodiles and Alligators. They are specially de- 



* Berghaiis's Physical Atlas. By several naturalists the Crocodiles are 

 formed into a distinct order, termetl, from their peculiar covering, LoHcata, 

 or mailed. 



t Job xli. 27-29. 



X Jones's Outline, 559. 



^ 



