ilEPTILES. 



larger. 



The Crocodile, according to the best authorities, is distinguished into four varieties, and is found in the 

 Nile, Senegal, and other African rivers, as also in the Ganges and the lagoons of various parts of India. 

 Most writers consider it, as the " leviathan" spoken of in Job. A portion of the Ancient Egyptians esteemed 

 him sacred, while others dealt with him as an enemy. The former were accustomed to keep, each a tame 

 Crocodile, adorn and feed him, and, after his death, embalm and place him in a sacred repository. This 

 animal is no longer found in the Egyptian Delta, but still abounds in the Thebaid and on the upper Nile, 

 and in its tributary branches throughout Nubia and Abyssinia. In Dongola it is killed for its flesh, which is 

 considered a delicacy although it has a strong odor of musk. The natives kill the Crocodile with a harpoon 

 as the whalers dispatch the whale. The animal feeds on fish, carrion, pigs, and dogs, which he surprises 

 on the river banks, yet escape from him is easy, since his legs are not formed for running on land, 

 though he is rapid in water, and besides he turns himself with slowness and difficulty. 



The Crocodile breeds 

 by eggs, which are oblong 

 and somewhat 

 than those of 

 Numbers both of eggs 

 and young are destroyed 

 by beasts and birds of 

 prey, among the latter of 

 which the ichneumon has 

 always been celebrated. A 

 traveller in India actually 

 blew up a Crocodile by 

 means of an electro-mag- 

 netic battery, baiting the 

 wire with the carcass of 

 a goat. This adventure 

 was occasioned by tho 

 huge Crocodile having de- 

 voured the servant of one 

 of the traveller's friends. 

 The destruction of the 

 reptile occasioned much 

 rejoicing 



lilowing up a Crocodile. 



(6-£&) 



