150 SAUEIANS. 



black, and marbled upon the head and neck with the same colour, 

 also the back and tail ; two or three broad, oblique black bands 

 are visible upon the flanks of the under part of the body, which is 

 of a yellowish green. Crocodiles abound in Africa. Formerly 

 they were found in all parts of the Nile, but lately it is said that 

 C. vulgaris is no longer to be met with in the Delta, but that it 

 exists in great numbers in the Thebaid and in the Upper Nile. 

 They are also found in the rivers Senegal and Niger, in Cafi'raria, 

 and in Madagascar. Most authors give them the name of Croco- 

 diles of the Nile. This species are found also in India. 



The Crocodile was considered a sacred animal by the ancient 

 Egyptians. In ruins of temples mummies of Crocodiles are still 

 found in a perfect state of preservation. The Romans introduced 

 living Crocodiles at the national games in the Colosseum. At first 

 only five were imported under the aedileship of Scaurus. Under 

 the Emperor Augustus thirty- six were killed in the Circus of 

 Flaminius. Several ancient medals represent this reptile, the 

 body of which perfectly resembles that which now lives in the 

 waters and on the banks of the Nile. There is a truly wonderful 

 fact in the natural history of the Crocodile. Listen to what 

 Herodotus, the father of history, tells us with regard to it : 

 " When the Crocodile takes his food in the Nile, the interior of 

 its mouth is always covered with bdella (flies) . All birds, with one 

 single exception, flee from the Crocodile ; but this one, the Nile Bird, 

 TrochyluSj far from avoiding it, flies towards the reptile with 

 the greatest eagerness, and renders it a very essential service. 

 Every time the Crocodile goes on shore to sleep, and at the moment 

 when it lies extended with open jaws, the Nile Bird enters the 

 mouth of the terrible animal and delivers it from the bdella which 

 it finds there ; the Crocodile shows its recognition of the service, 

 and never harms the bird." 



This fact, reported by Herodotus, was long considered to be a 

 fable, but the naturalist, Etienne Geofiroy Saint- Hilaire, who 

 formed part of the commission that General Bonaparte took with 

 him in his expedition into Egypt, had on several occasions oppor- 

 tunities of proving the truth of the historian's narrative. 



In a memoir read to the Academy of Science on the 28th 

 of January, 1828, he says, "It is perfectly true that there 



