CLASS III. REPTILIA: ORDER 2. LORICATA. 



369 



with which she is animated, the male, silently approaching, will frequently devour them before 

 slie is aware of their danger, lie perpetually seeks their destruction ; and the watch of the female 

 over her young is protracted for three months from their first appearance. An opinion is preva- 

 lent that the crocodile continues growing during its whole existence, that it lives to a great age, 

 and that the utmost limits of its size are scarcely known. 



This species is very voracious and powerful, and has frequently made fatal attacks upon human 

 beings. It was held sacred by the Egyptians of the Lower Nile, but was eaten by those at Ele- 

 phantine. Thirty-six of these were introduced at the amphitheater of Rome by Augustus. 

 Some have supposed it to be the Leviathan of Scripture. Many were kept tame by the ancient 

 Egyptians, and were ornamented with gold rings and precious stones, set in their ears ; their feet 

 were garnished with bracelets, and they were thus presented to the veneration of the people. 

 These reptiles were fed on cake and roast meat, and mulled wine was poured down their throats. 

 Herodotus says that a species of plover was wont to enter the mouth of the crocodile to feed 

 on the parasitic worms in its tongue, and that the monster tolerated this, in view of the relief it 

 o-ave. Modern observation has confirmed this curious account. This species has mostly disap- 

 peared from the Lower Nile, and is only common in that river to the south of Middle Egypt. 

 It is, however, abundant in many of the great rivers of Africa. 



There are several species of Crocodile in Africa and Asia, generally resembling the preceding : 



the St. Domingo Crocodile, C. acutus, 

 has the muzzle longer in proportion and 

 more pointed than that we have described, 

 but more enlarged at the base. The 

 scaly plates on the back are ranged in 

 four lines. This species is common in 

 the rivers and marshes of Ilayti, and most 

 of the other laro-e AVest India Islands. 

 It has been confounded with the crocodile 

 of the Nile, and also with the alligators 

 of the American continent; its manners 

 are similar to those of the latter, but there 

 are considerable differences in its external 

 structure. 



Another species, the Aque Palin, C, 

 rhombifer, is found in Cuba. 



Genus G A VIAL: Ga vial is. — Of this 

 there are several varieties, found in Asia. 

 The Gangetic Gavial or Nakoo, G. Gan- 

 getica, has the jaws produced to an enormous length, forming a long, slender snout, at the ex- 

 tremity of wdiich there is a large cartilaginous protuberance, ia. which the nostrils are situated. 

 The teeth are very numerous, and nearly equal in size throughout the whole of the jaws. The 

 hind-feet are palmated to the extremities of the toes. This species is found abundantly in the 

 fresh Avaters of India, where it sometimes attains a length of tliirty feet. It is not dangerous to 

 man nor the larger quadrupeds. It was known to the ancients, ^Elian mentioning the existence 

 of a crocodile in the Ganges which had a horn at the extremity of its nose. Though, as we have 

 stated, there are several marked varieties, there appears to be but one species. 



Genus ALLIGATOR : Jllif/ator. — This includes several species, all belonging to the American 

 continent, and called Alligators in the United States, Caimans and Jacares in South America. 

 Tliey resemble the true crocodiles, but there are structural differences which are thus stated by 

 Cuvier : " Tlie alligators have the head less oblong than the crocodiles ; its length is to its breadth, 

 measured at the articulation of the jaws, as three to two ; the teeth are unequal in length and 

 size ; there are at least nineteen, sometimes even as many as twenty-two, on each side in the 

 lower jaw, and nineteen or twenty in the upper. The front teeth of the under jaw pierce through 

 the upper at a certain age, and the fourth from the frout, which are the longest of all, enter into 

 Vol. II.— 47. 



THE CROCODILE. 



