194 FOSSIL REPTILES. 



without applying it to this particular district, or to any par- 

 ticular species. He says, KaXg'ovrat ^£ 8 TipoKo^eiXoi aXkoc 

 p^a/x4^af. He does not mean that they are marine crocodiles 

 in the rest of Egypt^ and champses only in Elephantina, for he 

 afterwards informs us that the word crocodile is Ionian. 



As for the passage in Strabo, it will not be found, on ex- 

 amination, to prove anything in favour of a distinct species, 

 and appears to apply only to the individual particularly con- 

 secrated. His words are, K«t fsiv Upos (^aqoyco^iiXos) mxpa-vroX^ 

 h Xi/xv>3 Y.a.^'' oLvroM r^e(po/A£V05-, y^zipori^fis toTs- IspsDfft, KaXetTat ^e 



28%0S-. 



The proper translation of this is — ^' They have a sacred 

 crocodile, which they rear by itself in a lake, which is tame 

 (or gentle) to the priests, and which they name Suchis^ Thus, 

 in the same manner the sacred bull of Memphis was named 

 Apis, that of Heliopolis Mnevis, and that of Hermonthis 

 Pads, these names not being intended to designate particular 

 races of the ox, but consecrated individuals. 



Strabo, in his account of the sacred crocodile, which he 

 himself presented with food, speaks but of a single individual. 

 Herodotus, in the same way, attributes but to one individual 

 the ornaments and honours which he describes. Diodorus 

 speaks of the crocodile of Lake Maeris, of the he-goat of 

 Mendes, in exactly the same style as he does of Apis and 

 Mnevis, obviously meaning only individuals. 



Plutarch is very express upon this subject. He says, 

 *' Though some Egyptians reverenced the entire species of 

 dogs, others that of wolves, and others that of the crocodile, 

 they only rear one individual respectively: some bring up a 

 dog, others a wolf, and others a crocodile, for it would not be 

 possible to rear them all." 



iElian, indeed, in the history which he relates of one of the 

 Ptolemies, who used to consult them as oracles, seems to 

 countenance the supposition that there were several " Quum 



