414 SPANISH-TOWN. 



" The absence of clavicular bones was evident ; and 

 the removal of the integument of the neck was at- 

 tended by a perceptible odour of musk. The pro- 

 bable use of this odour is to entice prey, for it is 

 well known that a paste perfumed with oil of Rho- 

 dium is a great attraction to fish. 



" I should describe the tegumentary covering of the 

 Crocodile to be, on the under parts, square tesserse of 

 horn set as close as they can be together ; on the 

 sides oval scales, with rather wide interspaces of tough 

 skin ; on the back oblong plates, some ridgy, others 

 dentelated, and others bossy, with central tubercles. 



" When stealthily swimming, the Crocodile nips its 

 prey with its front lower teeth, two of which close 

 up and sheath into sockets of the snout. The in- 

 stinctive tenacity with which he holds whatever he 

 has nipped and caught, was amusingly manifested in 

 a Crocodile drawn out of a hole at Windsor Park pen 

 near this town. He lay wounded ; but by presenting 

 to him a rope knotted at the end, with a smaU cross- 

 bar driven through the knot-hole, he was enticed to 

 nip it. The Crocodile held the rope closer as he felt 

 the effort at resistance greater ; and in this way he was 

 drawn out readily, though measuring fourteen feet in 

 length. 



" The orifice of the Crocodile's ear is guarded by 

 a plate firmly hinged, forming a moveable lid, rising 

 and shutting at the pleasure of the reptile. This is 

 a coincident provision with that for breathing by 

 the nostrils, when all the head save the snout is 

 under water. If the closing of the auricular valve 

 be accordant with the act of shutting up the valvular 



