HERPETOLOGY. 



Suiin elevated; jaws furnished with 19 teeth on each side; 

 Reptile*. two f ore teeth of the lower jaw elongated, and passing 

 ~ * f through the upper jaw. Daud. i. p. 407. 



A/I (i. (.'. Mississippiensis. Mississippi C. or alligator. 

 Mu/zle brnad and flattened ; four carinated scales, dis- 

 posed in a square upon the neck. 



/r crocodile du Mississippi, Daud. i. p. 412. 



Alligator, or Florida crocodile, Bartram's Travels in 

 South America. 



AV 7. C. Intiroil'ri*. Broad-beaked crocodile Muz- 

 "* zle broad and fl Utened ; jaws furnished with 19 teeth 

 on each side ; eight scales, disposed in four pairs upon 

 the neck. 



Le crocodile t) large mitxeau, Daud. i. p. 417. 



Perhaps this may be considered as a variety of the 

 alligator, from which it appears to differ only in the 

 number and disposition of the plates on the neck. 



Such is the arrangement of Daudin. We must now 

 notice the classification of Cuvier, as given in the 10th 

 volume of the Annales de Museum. 



Essential Characters of the Genus. 



Tail flattened at the sides ; hind feet palmated or 

 Remipalmated ; tongue fleshy, attached to the floor of 

 the mouth, except at its edge ; teeth sharp, simple, 

 ranged in a single row ; penis single. 



Subgenera and Species, viith their essential Characters. 

 SUBGEXUS I. Alligators. (Sect. III. Daudin.) 



SPECIES 1. Cr. Indus. Muzzle parabolic, depressed ; 

 scales on the neck four. Native of North America. 



2. Cr. tclerops. A transverse ridge between the or- 

 bits ; neck furnished with four bony bands. Native of 

 Guiana and Brasil. 



3. Cr. palpebrosit.t. Bony palpebrae ; neck furnish. 

 ed with four bony bands. 



4. Cr. trigonalus. Bony palpebrae ; neck furnished 

 with irregular triangular carinated scales. 



SUBGENUS II. Crocodiles. (Sect. I. Daudin.) 



5. Cr. vulgaris. Muzzle equal ; scales of the neck 

 six ; those of the back in sixes, square. Native of 

 Africa. 



G. Cr. biporcatus. Muzzle furnished with two ridges 

 nearly parallel ; plates of the neck six ; scales of the 

 back in eights, oval. Native of the Indian islands. 



7. Cr. rhombifer. Muzzle sub-convex, with two con- 

 verging ridges ; plates of the neck six ; scales of the 

 back in sixes, square, those of the limbs thick and ca- 

 rinated. 



8. Cr. galeatus. Top of the head furnished with a 

 two-toothed elevated crest ; plates of the neck six. Na- 

 tive of India beyond the Ganges. 



9. Cr. bitcutatus. Intermediate scales of the back 

 square ; outer ones irregular both in form and situa- 

 tion ; plates of the neck two. 



10. Cr. acu'us. Intermediate scales of the back 

 square ; outer ones irregular ; plates of the neck six ; 

 muzzle elongated and convex at the base. Native of 

 the Antilles. 



SUBOENUS III. Longirotiret, or Gavials. (Sect. II. Daud.) 



11. Cr. gangtlicits. Top of the head and orbits trans- 

 verse ; two small plates on the neck. 



1 2. Cr. tenuirottrit. Top of the head and orbits con- 

 tracted ; four small plates on the neck. 



M. Geoffroy St Hilaire, in a second Memoir on Cro- 

 codiles, in the tenth volume of the Annalet de Museum, 



Saurian 

 Reptiles. 



has formed another species of Nilotic crocodile, under 

 the trivial name Such ; but his account of it is not 

 sufficiently precise to determine its specific differences. 

 As we have already, under the article CROCODILE, 

 given a comprehensive account of the three principal 

 species of this tribe, viz. the crocodile of the Nile, the 

 alligator, and the Gangetic crocodile, or caiman, we 

 shall at present dispense with any thing more on the 

 natural history of these animals. 



GENUS II. DRACAENA. DRAGON. 



In this genus the body is covered with large rounded 

 scales, (those upon the back being carinated,) dispo- Genus. 

 eed in transverse bands, and separated by numerous 

 other very small scales that are round and carinated. 

 The head is thick, compressed laterally, and covered at 

 the top with several smooth scales. Some of the teeth 

 in the fore part of the jaws are sharp-pointed, and those 

 behind are broad and flat like the molares of quadru- 

 peds. The tongue is forked at its distal extremity ; 

 and the tympanum of the ear is apparent externally of 

 a round form. The lower part of the body is covered 

 with smooth scales, disposed in transverse bands. The 

 tail is covered on that half next the body with plates, 

 which form on its upper part first four, and then two 

 toothed ridges, while the remaining half is covered 

 with rough rhomboidal scales, carinated and imbricated. 

 The four feet are each furnished with five long toes 

 completely separated from each other, and terminated 

 by claws. 



There is only one species, viz. Species. 



SPECIES 1. Dracaena guianensis. Guiana dragon. GuianensU. 



La Dragone de la Gitian, Daud. i. p. 423. pi. xxviii. 



La Dragone, Lacepede, vol i. part ii. art. 5. pi. xiii. 



Lacerta draccena, Linn, a Gmelin, p. 1059. PLATE 



Draccena lizard, Shaw, iii. p. 218. pi. 67. CCXCVI 



See Plate CCXCVI. Fig. 4. Fig. 4. 



This animal in many respects resembles the smaller 

 crocodiles, differing from them chiefly in its forked 

 tongue and distinct toes. It is of a reddish-brown co- 

 lour, shaded with green. It is from two to four feet 

 in length, of which the tail is about one half. This 

 latter organ is very thick at its proximal extremity, ta- 

 pering gradually towards the point, and is strong and 

 flexible. 



The dragon has hitherto been found only in South 

 America, and chiefly in Guiana. It is a land animal, 

 frequents the savannahs and marshy plains; readily 

 climbs trees, and hides itself when in danger from cro- 

 codiles or other enemies. Both its flesh and eggs are 

 used as articles of food. 



GENUS III. BASILISCUS. BASILISK. 



The body in this tribe is thicker in proportion to its 

 length than many of the order, and its whole surface, 

 as well as that of the head, neck, tail, and limbs, is co- 

 vered with small scales that are generally rhomboidal, 

 and a little carinated. The head is short and pretty 

 thick, especially towards the back part ; the tongue 

 broad, thick, flat, rounded at its tip, not extensile, and 

 almost wholly attached within the lower jaw. The 

 throat is susceptible of inflation. The tail is long, very 

 much compressed laterally, and surmounted at least 

 along its anterior half, with a high vertical crest that is 

 radiated, capable of being folded together, and scaly. 



