THE CROCODILE. 



303 



parts of the world the great animals are en- 

 tirely banished, or rarely seen. The appear- 

 ance of such raises at once a whole country up 

 in arms to oppose their force ; and their lives 



The following cut represents the Double Crested Cro- 

 idile. It is the most common species in all the rivers 



that lead to the Indian ocean. It is found in Java and 

 even in China. 



The most remarkable distinguishing character of alli- 

 gators (as already said) is the shape of the head. The 

 gavials have it the most produced, the crocodiles the 

 next, and the alligators have it shortest. In them the 

 length of the jaws from the articulation is only one-half 

 more than the greatest breadth. The teeth have a ragged 

 appearance, as some of them are long and others short. 

 There are never fewer than nineteen in each side of 

 either jaw, and sometimes two more in each side of the 

 under one. These grow with the growth of the ani- 

 mal; and receiving cavities are formed for them in the 

 upper jaw, especially from those fourth from the front, 

 which are longer than any of the others. The body is 

 low and squat ; the hind legs are nearly round in their 

 section, and have no membrane on their sides ; the webs 

 of the toes also extend only half the length ; and the 

 holes behind the orbits, which are understood to secrete 

 a musky fluid in the crocodiles, are small and obscure, 

 or wanting. From the structure of the feet, and the 

 want of fringed or pectinated membranes on the hind 

 legs, which are both a lessening of the pelagic structure, 

 alligators keep more to the fresh waters, the rivers, and 

 lagunes, than the crocodiles ; so that those in the bays 

 of the West India islands, though popularly known as 

 alligators or caymans, are rather to be considered as 

 crocodiles, even in the popular sense of that term. 



There are four species or more, of alligators, all natives 

 of the warmer parts of the American continent, but vary- 

 ing in their appearance, so as in some of th" species to 

 resemble the crocodiles, and in others th gavials. The 

 species which, in the written accounts at least, is the 

 most ferocious and formidable to man, is that which in- 

 habits the Mississippi and the other rivers of the southern 

 parts of North America, and the swamps and lagunes 

 which these rivers form when they are swollen by floods. 

 It is the pifte-headed alligator (Alligator lucius) of Cuvier, 



so called bec&use its head, in shape at least, bears some 

 resemblance to that of the common pike. This species 

 has been seen as long as fifteen feet, with the head two 

 VOL. n 



generally pay the forfeit of their temerity. 

 The crocodile, therefore, that was once so 

 terrible along the banks of the river Nile, is 

 now neither so large, nor its_nu_mbers sogreal 



feet long, and live gape nearly the same. The jaws are 

 more elongated than in some other species, the breadtL 

 at the articulation not being in those of the size men- 

 tioned much more than one foot. The snout is flattened 

 on the upper surface, and slightly turned up at the ex- 

 tremity, which is bluntly pointed ; but the sides of the 

 jaws are, for the greater portion of the length of the gape, 

 nearly parallel. The teeth are large and irregular, with 

 the fourth from the front in each side of the tinder jaw . 

 much larger than the rest, so that they can pene- 

 trate through a substance of considerable thickness, and, 

 with their points received into the sockets in the upper 

 jaw, hold on against a very considerable strain. It is 

 by this means that the animal is said to master the 

 larger mammalia, when they come to the shores to 

 quench their thirst. The alligator, having observed its 

 prey, swims slowly towards it, with the snout barely 

 above the* water. When within reach, it seizes the 

 upper lip and nose; and at the same time incurvating ita 

 body with more than ordinary exertion, hits a violent 

 blow on the shoulder with its thick and scaly tail. The 

 bite and the blow together bring the animal to its knees, 

 tumble it headlong and helpless ; and as the alligator 

 does not quit its hold while the animal continues to 

 struggle, and also contrives to keep the head underwater, 

 the prey soon expires of pain and suffocation. The 

 smaller mammalia are generally foundered by the blow 

 of the tail, and then seized by the head and drawn under 

 water till they are suffocated. But in what state soever 

 prey of this description is eaten, whether recent or after 

 it has been partially decomposed by time, it is always 

 eaten on land. They do not feed under water, any 

 more than they breathe in that situation. 



The Parted Monitor, of which the following is a re- 

 presentation, resembles the crocodile as to form, but is 



different in its habits. It swims with difficulty, runs 

 with considerable swiftness, and climbs trees with dex- 

 terity. It conceals itself in burrows, and bites desper- 

 ately. Its flesh and eggs are eaten. Its length is from 

 four to five feet. It inhabits the savannahs and marshy 

 soils of South America, particularly Guiana. 



There is, perhaps, no country in which the alligator 

 more generally abounds, than in India. It is found in 

 most of the rivers, in the large tanks, and frequently, 

 during the monsoons, in small pools of water scarcely larger 

 than the common pond of an English farm -yard. In 

 the larger tanks these creatures are commonly fed by 

 the Hindoos, who venerate, though they do not, like the 

 ancient Egyptians, worship them. They become so 

 tame when daily supplied with food by the superstitious 

 Brahmins of the temples near which they take tip their 

 undisturbed abode, that any person may fearlessly bathe 

 in the tanks, without the slightest chance of molesta- 

 tion, these usually voracious reptiles being so pampered 

 as to have no further relish for human flesh. 



In the Ganges, these creatures may be almost daily 

 seen watching the numerous carcasses which constantly 

 float down that river, awaiting the moment when they 

 shall have attained a state of luxurious maturity. Some- 

 times a solitary vulture appears sailing down the current, 



