46 THE CROCODILE. 



The body is elongated, naked, and furnished 

 with a tail and four equal legs. 



THE CROCODILE *. 



The Crocodile is an animal perhaps too com- 

 monly found near the large rivers in various parts, 

 both of Asia and Africa, where it attains the amaz- 

 ing length of twenty-five feet and upwards. The 

 armour, with which the upper part ot the body is 

 coated, may be accounted among the most ela- 

 borate pieces of Nature's mechanism. In the full- 

 grown animal it is so strong as easily to repel a mus- 

 quet ball : on the lower part it is much thinner and 

 more pliable. The whole animal appears as if co- 

 vered with the most regular and curious carved 

 work. The colour of the full-grown Crocodile is 

 blackish-brown above, and yellowish-white beneath. 

 The upper parts of the legs and sides are varied 

 with deep yellow, and in some parts tinged with 

 green. The eyes are provided with a winking 

 membrane, as in the bird tribes. The mouth is of 

 vast width, and furnished with numerous sharp- 

 pointed teeth, thirty or more on each side of the 

 jaws; and these are so disposed as, when the mouth 

 is closed, to fit alternately above and below. 



The Crocodile and Alligator have the largest 



* SYNONYMS.— Laceita Crocodilus. /./»».— Le Crocodile propre- 

 ment dit. La Cepede.— Cayman. Bos man. Nilotic Crocodile. Com- 

 mon Crocodile, Sbaim*— — Sbaiv's Gen, ZqqI, •vol. 3, tab. 55, 56, 



57» 



