ORDER SAURIA. 195 



crocodile, but his observations remained in manuscript, 

 excepting such of them as had been published by M. 

 Schneider. 



The males are much less numerous than the females. 

 They fight together with great violence and inveteracy dur- 

 ing the season of reproduction. The males are fit for gene- 

 ration at ten years of age, and the females at eight or nine. 

 The fecundity of the latter seldom lasts above four or five 

 years. 



The female digs with the paws and muzzle a circular hole 

 in the sand, on some slightly elevated mound, where she 

 deposits twenty-eight eggs, moistened with a viscous liquor, 

 ranged in beds separated by a little earth, and covered with 

 earth well beaten down. 



The laying takes place in March, April, and May, and 

 the young ones issue from the egg at the end of a month. 

 They are then only from nine to ten inches in length ; the 

 growth continues more than twenty years, and some indi- 

 viduals arrive to more than sixteen feet in length. 



At the time of their disclosure from the (^gg, the female 

 comes to scrape aAvay the earth and let them out : she con- 

 ducts, defends, and feeds them, (which latter operation is 

 performed by disgorging to them her own food,) for about 

 three months, a space of time during which the male would 

 seek to devour them. 



These crocodiles cannot eat in the water without running 

 the risk of being suffocated. They dig holes in the bed of 

 rivers, to drag in, and drown their victims, which they suffer 

 to rot. 



Such is the substance of the observations made personally 

 at St. Domingo, by M. Descourtils. They are confirmed by 

 a note from a physician of that island, who informed M. 

 Parmentier, that these animals seek with especial avidity the 



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