320 



ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 



little. As in other representations of the crocodile, the lower 

 jaw does not appear, and even in this dorsal view the artist 

 seems to have deemed it necessary to show the row of teeth 

 as if in side view, or as though they projected laterally from 

 the mouth. What may represent ears or ear plugs are shown 

 one on each side behind the eyes. There are few other ex- 

 amples of full drawings of the crocodile in the Maya writings. 



Fig. 1. 

 TOP OF ALTAR. T. 



COPAN. 



Dresden 74 shows an animal which has been considered to 

 represent a crocodile or alligator but it seems to have 

 more of the characteristics of a lizard. 



Figures of a crocodile {Crocodilus amencanus) are frequent 

 in the Nuttall Codex, where there is one large figure of the 

 entire animal (PL 13, fig. 8), making its way along under 

 water. It is shown with numerous dorsal spines, a long tail, 



