XVII 



THE CROCODILE — LORD OF THE RIVER 



The crocodile is a denizen of all African rivers and 

 many lakes. These dangerous reptiles make their home 

 in the water, but bask on the sand-banks during the 

 day. Crocodiles are very voracious ; nothing comes 

 amiss to them, whether rats, water-fowl, sheep, goats, 

 antelopes, children, women, or men. They are wonder- 

 fully adapted for the conditions under which they 

 live. 



The skin of the crocodile is hard, and beset with 

 scales : the portion covering the back contains a series 

 of ossified plates, or scutes, which form a reliable 

 dermal armour. 



Crocodiles emit a peculiar musky odour : this is due 

 to a pale brown, greasy material secreted by two sets of 

 glands. One pair is situated in the skin of the throat ; 

 the others are concealed in the walls of the cloaca. 

 The throat glands are lodged in two pockets, and the 

 entrances to them are in the form of slits in the skin, 

 lying parallel with the lower jaws. I removed these 

 glands from a recently killed crocodile ten feet long. 

 The cloacal glands were as l)ig as walnuts. Their 

 minute structure was like that of the sebaceous, or 

 grease, glands in the skin of man. The throat glands 

 were globular and half an inch in diameter. They 

 differed in structure from the cloacal pair and were 

 more complex. Gadow states that when young croco- 

 diles are excited the throat pouches can Ije everted like 

 the fingers of gloves. In all proljability these scent 



