THE CROCODILE. 



THE crocodile and its very near relative, the alligator, 

 possess a double interest to man. In the first 

 place, they are the relics of a bygone age. Their cousins, 

 the ichthyosaurus and the plesiosaurus, and the other great 

 Saurians, have happily long since vanished from the world, 

 but the crocodile is still with us, and doubtless retains 

 traditions of the days when he and his relatives ranged 

 undisputed masters of a swampy universe, undisturbed even 

 by anticipations of changes and cataclysms that should 

 render the world an unsuitable place of habitation for, 

 at any rate, the larger species among them. The second 

 reason for man's interest in the crocodile is the crocodile's 

 marked partiality for man. The crocodile and the alligator 

 differ very slightly from each other ; the principal difference 

 being that the alligator has a broader head, and that the 

 hind feet of the crocodile are much more completely 

 webbed than are those of the alligator. 



The general observer, however, would see no greater 

 differences between members of the various species of 

 alligators and crocodiles than between different human 

 beings ; but the scientific man delights in subtleties, and 

 there is nothing that affords him a deeper satisfaction than 



