40 The Alligator and Its Allies 
very common on the island of Madagascar (Fig. 
11). Inthe lower waters of the Nile it is now nearly 
exterminated. It has always been a conspicuous 
animal in Egypt and was one of the animals held 
sacred by the Egyptians and preserved by them 
as mummies. It is discussed by Herodotus, and 
the “leviathan”? mentioned in the Book of Job 
is doubtless this crocodile. In fact the name is 
said to be derived from the ancient Greek for 
lizard, just as the word alligator is said to be de- 
rived from the Spanish for lizard—el lagarto; the 
resemblance in form between these big saurians 
and their smaller relatives is evident. The alli- 
gator, being confined to America and a small part 
of Asia, was probably not known to the ancients. 
An excellent account of the development and 
habits of the present species is given by Voeltzkow 
(78), who says it is, perhaps, the most common 
vertebrate in Madagascar. The largest specimen 
measured by this observer was thirteen feet; 
Ditmars gives sixteen feet as the maximum size. 
This man-eating crocodile, according to Ditmars, 
destroys more human lives than any other wild 
animal of the dark continent. 
The story told by Herodotus of the bird, prob- 
ably a species of plover, which enters the gaping 
mouth of the crocodile to pick off the leeches found 
there may be true, since there is such a bird that 
may be seen perching on the backs of crocodiles, 
and as the Crocodilia frequently lie with their 
