ORDER SAURIA. 193 



of Versailles, and within some years many young individuals 

 have been seen in Paris. 



The crocodiles of the Senegal, the Niger, and the 

 Gambia, seem to augment in length, in proportion as we 

 advance farther inland. In the Senegal, near Ghiaxn, 

 Brue saw one twenty-five feet in length. Barbot, in the 

 same river, and in the Gambia, observed some that were 

 thirty feet long. Jobson tells us that in the Gambia, 

 where they are called Intmbos, they send forth cries which 

 may be heard at a considerable distance, and which sound 

 as if they came from the bottom of a well. 



Adamson found hundreds of these animals in the Seneo-al. 

 They appeared all at the same time, on the top of the water, 

 like floating trunks of trees. But when the boat approached 

 them, they exhibited fear, and dived. When they perceive 

 any animal drinking on the bank of the river, they proceed 

 immediately towards it, seize it by one leg, and drag it in to 

 devour it. 



Pere Labat informs us that the crocodiles are often taken 

 with hooks placed in the abdomen of a dog, and fixed to a 

 chain of iron, at the end of a long cord. They are also 

 caught, we are assured, by means of a plank of softish wood, 

 in which their teeth become eno-aged. 



The negroes sometimes kill the crocodile by main force, and 

 in the water, when they surprise him in a spot wliere he 

 cannot support himself without swimming. They proceed to 

 him, having the left arm guarded by a piece of ox-hide, and 

 a bayonet in the right hand. They keep his mouth open ])y 

 plunging the left arm into his gullet, and strike hiin with the 

 bayonet in the throat. This information we also receive from 

 Father Labat. 



Adanson, the celebrated naturalist, returning from hunt- 

 ing on the island of Sor, found the nest in which a crocodile 

 had just deposited its eggs, at about half a foot deep under 



VOL, IX, o 



