352 



OF THE LIZARD KIND. 

 THE CROCODILE AND ITS AFFINITIES. 



It is no easy matter to determine to what class in 

 Nature lizards are most nearly allied : they cannot justly 

 be ranked with the quadruped creation, as they bring 

 forth by eggs, and are not covered with hair ; neither 

 can they be placed among fishes, because the majority 

 of them exists upon land : their size prevents them 

 from being classed with insects ; and they are excluded 

 from the tribe of serpents by their feet. 



As lizards thus differ from every other class of ani- 

 mals, they also vary very much amongst themselves ; 

 for where shall we find a greater difference than in the 

 cameleon and the alligator ? the one measuring an inch, 

 and the other twenty-seven feet. All animals of this de- 

 scription have four short legs ; and their fore feet bear 

 some resemblance to a man's hand : their tails are ge- 

 nerally near as thick as their body, but, at the end, 

 taper to a point. They all are allowed to be amphibi- 

 ous, and capable of living either in water or upon land. 



The crocodile is fortunately placed at that remote dis- 

 tance from Europeans that, though it may raise curio- 

 sity, it cannot excite dread ; yet those who sail up the v 

 rivers Amazon and Niger, describe them as being the 

 most formidable animals of the deep. Of this tremen- 

 dous species there are two kinds, the one termed the 

 crocodile, and the other the cayman or alligator ; and the 

 chief distinction between them are merely these : the body 

 of the crocodile is more slender than that of the alliga- 

 tor; and the forehead, like a greyhound's, tapers off to- 

 wards the snout: it likewise has a much wider swallow ; 



