ORDER SAURIA. 17'^ 



dered familiar. The priests of Memphis, according to the 

 ancient historians, reared crocodies in a kind of domestication, 

 which they were wont to parade in public in certain religious 

 ceremonies. It also appears, according to the report of Bruce, 

 that on the western shores of Africa, the negroes bring up 

 crocodiles, which become so gentle as to let the children play 

 with them, and ride upon their backs. 



The encephalon, in the surians, occupies but a small por- 

 tion of the cavity of the cranium ; so that the figure and extent 

 of the latter are no exact indications of the form and volume 

 of the former. As for the rest, it is terminated, above, and 

 in front, as in the other reptiles and all vertebrated animals, by 

 olfactory lobes, and cerebral hemispheres ; but like the ence- 

 phalon of fishes, it has no decussations or general commissures, 

 although it is placed much higher, by the predominance of 

 the organ which represents the cerebrum. This predominance 

 is so great, that the other parts of the encephalic mass appear 

 to have no relations with each other but through its medium, 

 and are fixed more closely to it than the various lobes are one 

 with another. In general, its parts are all smooth, and without 

 convolutions. 



It is not easy to establish in a general way its compara- 

 tive weight in proportion to that of the body, because the 

 weight of the first always remains pretty nearly the same, 

 while that of the latter is subject to variations of very great 

 extent, according to the condition of the animal. It may be 

 affirmed, however, that absolutely speaking, its volume is 

 wonderfully smaller than that of the encephalon of the warm- 

 blooded animals, that is, of those belonging to the classes 

 mammalia and aves. 



The dura mater, which is destitute of all falciform and 

 other kinds of folds, is constantly adherent to the internal 

 face of the cranium, and is separated from the encephalon by 

 a mucous pulp more or less solid. The pia-mater, as in the 



