28 
LECTURE VII. 
vered may be numbered among the most elaborate 
pieces of Nature’s mechanism : it is so strong as 
easily to repel a musket ball; but on the under 
parts of the body it is much weaker or thinner. 
Tlie Crocodile is produced from an egg scarcely 
larger than that of a goose, and covered with d, 
strong calcarious shell, like that of a bird. Of 
these eggs the female deposits a numerous brood 
in the sand, and the young, when hatched, imme- 
diately betake themselves to the water. 
The Indian or Gangetic Crocodile is of at 
least equal size with the Nilotic, and is distin- 
guished by its very long and narrow snout, and 
by having teeth almost double the number of those 
of the Nilotic species.. 
The Alligator or American Crocodile is more 
nearly allied to the Nilotic, but is supposed to be 
distinguished by two rising lines or crests along 
the upper part of the tail. 
The Ceylonese Crocodile much resembles 
these, but has every scale on the upper parts fur- 
nished with a flat crest or elevation. Besides 
these species, two or three others may be pretty 
distinctly traced in the works of naturalists, 
• though their precise specific characters cannot be 
