Crocodiles.- 



-REPTILES.- 



-Crocodii.f, of tite Nile. 



79 



approach them ; they prey upon every auimal which 

 comes within tlicir reach, and man himself is not free 

 from their attacl^s, for instances are by uo means rare, 

 both in ancient and modem times, of their suddenly 

 seizing upon human beings, and carrying them oS" to 

 their watery haunts." They are often called the 

 tyrants of the fresh waters, and their capacious mouth 

 and numerous strong and conical teeth fit them well 

 for a rapacious life. James Montgomery happily 

 describes the family in a few words : — - 



*' The crocodile, the dragon of the waters, 

 In iron panoply, fell as the plague, 

 And merciless as famine, cranchcd his prey, 

 While from his jaws, with dreadful fangs all serried. 

 The life-hlood dyed the waves with deadly streams.'' 



In general form the body of the Crocodiles is de- 

 pressed ; and the tail is long, tapering, thick at the 

 base, and compressed at the sides, so as to form a sort 

 of paddle or oar. The legs are so very short, that 

 they appear as if they could never support the weight 

 of the body. They have no clavicle or collar bone. 

 The fore feet have five toes, the two outer of which 

 are destitute of claws. The toes in the hind feet are 

 only four in number, the outermost of which alone 

 wants a claw. These latter are connected together 

 by a membrane or web, while those of the fore feet are 

 free. The partially webbed feet, the flat compressed 

 tail, and the position of the nostrils at the lip of the 

 muzzle, all sufficiently show the aquatic nature of the 

 Crocodiles. 



The female deposits her eggs in the sand. In some 

 species she makes a sort of nest in which she lays 

 them, then covers them with leaves and debris of 

 plants, and thus leaves them to he hatched by the heat 

 generated there from the fermentation of the vege- 

 table matters. Some of the Crocodiles are said to lay 

 three times after short intervals; and about from 

 twenty to thirty each time. The eggs are covered 

 with a hard white shell, are about the size of those 

 of a gocse, and are said to be good eating. The 

 young are hatched in about twenty or thirty days, and 

 the moment they quit the shell, they make with all 

 speed to the water. A great many of these eggs are 

 destroyed by the ichneumon and tupinambis; and vast 

 numbers of the young are devoured by the fresh- water 

 tortoises, voracious fishes, various amphibious animals, 

 and even, it is said, by the old Crocodiles themselves, 

 when pressed by hunger. In all probability these 

 animals live to a considerable age, perhaps at least 

 that of man ; and their growth appears to be slow. 

 They are able, like other reptiles, to sustain long fasts, 

 and some of the species, where the heat is not so very 

 great, bury themselves during the winter in the mud. 

 Their principal places of abode are the banks of large 

 rivers and marshy lakes ; and they are often found 

 living in society together in large troops. Their chief 

 food consists of fish, frogs, water-birds, and any other 

 animals they can secure. Even dogs, swine, and oxen, 

 it is said, cannot always escape their voracity. Man, 

 himself, sometimes falls a victim. In order to obtain 

 their food they often have recourse to artifice ; swell- 

 ing out their lungs with air, so as to make their bodies 

 specifically lighter than water, they allow themselves 



to float immovable on the surface of the river, where 

 they look exactly like a branch of a tree, and thus 

 their unsuspecting prey come around them. 



The Crocodiles are all strangers to Europe, and with 

 the exception, perhaps, of one or two, are equally so to 

 Australia. In the three other parts of the world, how- 

 ever, they are found, and often in great numbers. In 

 Dr. Gray's arrangement of this order, these animals 

 are divided into two families, the true Crocodiles and 

 the Alligators. The latter are peculiar to America, 

 while the former are common to both worlds. 



Fajiily of crocodiles {Crocodilidoe). 



The species of this family are chiefly characterized, 

 and distinguished scientificallj', by the teeth. The 

 lower canines fit into a notch in the edge of the upper 

 jaw wdien the mouth is closed. At the same time 

 they are knosvn by the muzzle behind the nostrils 

 being much narrowed by the hind legs having a fringe 

 of compressed scales behind, and by the toes being 

 webbed to the tip. 



The family contains three genera, and about fourteen 

 species. 



THE EGYPTIAlf CROCODILE or the Crocodile of 

 THE Nile (Crocodilus vulgaris) is the species which 

 forms our illustration of the genus Crocodilus — Plate 7, 

 fig. 2 ; and Plate 8, fig. 5 (teeth). This huge creature, 

 which often reaches the length of from twenty-five to 

 thirty feet, is a native of the Nile, the Senegal, Niger, 

 Gambia, and probably most of the rivers of Norlhern 

 and Western Africa. It appears to have been well 

 known from the earliest periods, and it even seems to 

 have been worshipped in Egypt previous to our historic 

 records of that country. At Memphis it was reared with 

 the greatest care by certain priests who had charge of 

 it, and wdio nourished it with abundant food. Sacrifices 

 and oflerings were presented to it, it was adorned with 

 trinkets and jewels, and lodged in a lake or basin in the 

 midst of the temple. Treated in this manner, the Cro- 

 codile lo.st its ferocity, and became so tame as to be led 

 about in religious processions and ceremonies. When 

 the celebi-ated Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt, 

 which was about 400 years before the birth of Christ, 

 the habits of this animal were well known. His object 

 was, in a great measure, to investigate the religious 

 history of that people, and therefore he was insensibly 

 led to the study of an animal which was so mixed up 

 with their sacred rites as the Crocodile. At that time 

 he informs us that the inhabitants of the Thebais and 

 the shores of the lake Mceris regarded these creatures 

 with the highest reverence. Each person in that dis- 

 trict reared a Crocodile which they trained up, suspend- 

 ing gold and jewels from its earlids, and adorning its 

 fore feet with rings of gold. They fed it carefully and 

 with delicacies, and when it died it was embalmed and 

 placed in some consecrated repository. Numerous 

 mummies of young Crocodiles in the British Museum, 

 obtained from their primitive repositories after a lapse of 

 more tlian two thousand years since tlieir embalmment, 

 and still in perfect preservation, attest the truth of that 

 statement. The description given us of the Crocodile 



