28 LECTURE VII. 



vered may be numbered among the most elaborate 

 pieces of Nature's mechanism : it is so strong as 

 easily to repel a musket ball; but on the under 

 parts of the body it is much weaker or thinner. 

 The Crocodile is produced from an egg scarcely 

 larger than that of a goose, and covered with a 

 strong calcarious shell, like that of a bird. Of 

 these eggs the female deposits a numerous brood 

 in the sand, and the young, when hatched, imme- 

 diately betake themselves to the water. 



The Indian or Gangetic Crocodile is of at 

 least equal size with the Nilotic, and is distin- 

 guished by its very long and narrow snout, and 

 by having teeth almost double the number of those 

 of the Nilotic species. 



The Alligator or American Crocodile is more 

 nearly allied to the Nilotic, but is supposed to be 

 distinguished by two rising lines or crests along 

 the upper part of the tail. 



The Ceylonese Crocodile much resembles 

 these, but has every scale on the upper parts fur- 

 nished with a flat crest or elevation. Besides 

 these species, two or three others may be pretty 

 distinctly traced in the works of naturalists, 

 though their precise specific characters cannot be 



