THE MARGINED CROCODILE. 33 



to a great length. I have seen a skull twenty-six inches in length, denoting a total length of 

 thirty-three I'eet. 



This animal is m the habit of traversing considerable distances in search of water, but, 

 according to the Singhalese, its feet are sadly cut in passing over the hard, stony ground. If 

 it is baffled in its search, it returns to the exhausted pool, burrows beneath the mud, and there 

 waits until released by the rains. Sir E. Tennent mentions one instance where he saw the 

 recent impress of a Crocodile in the mud from which it had just emerged, and he was told of 

 a curious incident which befell an officer attached to the surveying department. Having 

 pitched his tent, he had retired to rest as usual, but during the night he was disturbed by a 

 movement of the earth below his bed. On the following morning the mystery was solved by 

 the appearance of a Crocodile, which made its way from under the bed. 



As is the case with the common Crocodile of Egypt, the young of this reptile are very 

 small when hatched, but so fierce, even in their early days, that they can be caught by push- 

 ing a stick towards them, letting them bite it, and pulling them out before they loosen their 

 hold. A gentleman who has resided for eight years in Ceylon told me that one of his friends 

 was so taken with the appearance of these little reptiles, that he captured one, packed it care- 

 fully, and took it home. On arriving in his house, he put the Crocodile, then about nine or 

 ten inches long, into a basin of water, and left it. Shortly afterwai'ds a little boy, one of his 

 children, peeped into the basin, and seeing the Crocodile, gave it a push with his finger. The 

 fierce little creature at once snapped at the offending finger, and held it so tightly that the 

 poor child could not shake it off, and ran screaming about the house with the young Crocodile 

 dangling at the end of his linger, until it was removed by an attendant. 



Another well-known species is the American Crocodile, so often and so wrongly termed 

 the alligator. This reptile is found in the tropical and hotter parts of America, and is very 

 common in some localities. When first hatched, the young seem to feed only on living insects, 

 and according to the experiments of I\f. Bosc, they would not even couch the insects with 

 which they were supplied, until their intended prey began to crawl. During the summer 

 they become lively at night, and make such a hideous bellowing that a person unaccustomed 

 to it has no chance of sleeping. They also have a habit of clattering their jaws together with a 

 loud noise. 



This creature is only lately a known resident in North American waters. But few years 

 since, it was supposed that the islands of the West Indies were the most northern range of any 

 species of Crocodile. Dr. Jeffries Wyman, of Boston, discovered a specimen in Bisquine Bay, 

 off the southern extremity of Florida. Three years since, Mr. Ralph Monroe, of Staten Island, 

 X. Y., visited that )-egion, and, while hunting on Virginia Key, some miles from the 

 mainland, discovered several Crocodiles. Two of them he captured, and the preserved 

 skins he presented to the American Museum, in Central Park. Since then, he has killed a 

 specimen of the largest known dimensions, fourteen feet in length, which he has sent to the 

 same institution. 



The first comparison with the alligator does not impress one with any considerable sense 

 of difference, but the difference in breadth of the heads, when viewed from above, is very 

 striking. That of the Crocodile is extremely narrow, while that of the alligator is heavy and 

 very wide. The entire '■Mniild" of the Crocodile is manifestly favorable to a maritime exist- 

 ence, while that of the alligator is for just such a life as it leads, one of sluggishness and 

 inactivity. 



The Crocodile is an active swimmer, and its teeth and jaws are evidently constructed to 

 seize upon fishes while swimming. It is seen mostly in salt-water creeks near the ocean. 



Some doubt has been entertained about the identity of this species with that found in the 

 West Indies. It is very natural for this creature, being a sea-going one, to swim across the 

 Florida Straits. It is illustrated on the next page. 



Another species, the Margined Crocodile {Grocodilus iiiargindtm), resides in the 

 rivers of Southern Africa. It may be distinguished from the Egyptian species by the great 



Vol. m.— 5. 



