BOOK III. REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS 



BY W. SAVILLE-KENT, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



REPTILES, 



CHAPTER I. 



CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS. 



THE KeiDtile Class, as defined by modem scientific limitations, includes among the living 

 animals of the world the several groups of the Crocodiles, the Tortoises and Turtles, the 

 Tuatera, the Lizards, and the Snakes. In the popular mind the Frogs and Toads, and 

 the Newts and Salamanders, are often held to belong to the same main section ; but these, 

 as hereafter shown, claim, as Amphibians, an independent position of equivalent rank and value. 

 In bygone geological ages the Reptile Class embraced a considerably larger number of groups ; 

 some of the members, such as the extinct Dinosaurs, comprised titanic monsters from GO to 80 

 feet in length. The Crocodiles and Alligators of the present day are the only living reptiles 

 which in any way approach the extinct Saurians in their dimensions, or assist us in some 

 small measure to realise their unwieldy forms and bulk. 



The members of the Crocodile Order, which, in addition to the Alligators, includes also 

 the Caimans and so-called Gavials or Garials, agree with one another in the more or less 

 ponderous lizard-like 

 shaj)e of their body, 

 supported on well- 

 developed but short 

 and comparatively 

 weak legs, in their 

 special adaptation to 

 an amphibious exist- 

 ence, carnivorous habits, 

 and restriction to 

 tropical and sub- 

 tropical climates. 



Among the salient 

 characters of the 

 Crocodile, as the 

 representative of its 

 tribe, which specially 

 adapt it for its aquatic 

 habits, the long, power- 

 ful tail is strongly 

 compressed and thus 

 fitted for use as an 



organ of propulsion, This species was ^ 



Photo by W. p. Daiido, F.Z.^.j 



YOUXG NILE CROCODILE, 

 hipped with divine IioDOurs and mummified after death by the ancient Egyptians. 



545 



G9 



