168 Crocodiles. 



putable. Sir S. W. Baker, for example, who has 

 probably as extensive an acquaintance with these 

 reptiles in their native baunts as anyone living, 

 cherishes both these errors, for in his very 

 interesting book, "Wild Beasts and their Ways," 

 he says, (f We find the largest of all lizards, the 

 crocodile, under various names, in nearly every 

 river of the tropics. In America this reptile is 

 generally known as an alligator, and some persons 

 pretend to define the peculiarity which distin- 

 guishes that variety from the crocodile, but I 

 regard the distinction in the same light as that 

 between the leopard and the panther, the differ- 

 ence existing merely in a name." Yet, as we 

 have said, the Crocodilia are not lizards, and the 

 true crocodiles are distinct from the alligators. 

 Among the points of distinction the following are 

 the most noticeable. lu the crocodiles the so-called 

 canine tooth, the fourth counting from the front, 

 fits into a notch in the side of the upper jaw, and 

 is, therefore, visible when the mouth is closed, 

 while in the alligator it is received in a pit in the 

 upper jaw, and, is, therefore, invisible, or nearly so. 

 Again, in the crocodiles the hindlegs have a 

 fringe of flattened scales which is wanting in 

 the alligators, whose legs are round. 



Crocodiles are found in Africa, Asia, the tropical 

 parts of Australia, Central America, and the West 

 Indies; while the alligators, with the exception of 

 one species discovered some few years since in 

 China, are found only in America. They are all 



