132 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



upon him rapidly, when some Spaniards who witnessed the scene 

 cried out to him to double to and fro. Thus warned he escaped 

 his enemy (Plate II.) 



[No specimens of the Crocodilidce. have been found in Europe, 

 and until very recently none had been found in Australia ; but lately 

 they are discovered to be common in the new colony of Queensland \ 

 one shot on the banks of the Mackenzie river, which was afterwards 

 exhibited at Rockhampton, was twenty feet long. Crocodiles are 

 found in Africa, Asia, and the West Indies. The Gavials seem to be 

 limited to the Ganges and other large rivers in India. Three other 

 species, namely, C. vulgaris, C. galeatus, and C. bifurcatus ; of the 

 first, Siam is its habitat ; the others are found in the rivers which 

 debouch into the Indian Ocean and the Ganges. 



The true Crocodiles are indigenous to Africa and India. Their 

 length of head is almost double its breadth. The fourth tooth of 

 the lower jaw is the longest and largest of all, and passes into an 

 indentation hollowed out in the edge of the upper jaw, becoming 

 visible on the outside. The hind feet have on their external edge 

 a dentated crest, and the interstices of their toes externally are pal- 

 mated. 



The principal type is the Common Crocodile (C. vulgaris), which 

 sometimes attains the length of nine or ten feet. The upper part 

 of the body of these Reptiles is of an olive green colour spotted with 

 black, and marbled upon the head, neck, back, and tail, with the 

 same colour; two or three broad oblique black bands are visible 

 upon the flanks of the under part of the body, which is of a 

 yellowish green. Formerly Crocodiles were found in all parts 

 of the Nile, but lately it is said that they are no longer to be met 

 with until the Thebaid and Upper Nile is reached, where they 

 exist in great numbers. They are also found in the rivers Senegal 

 and Niger, also in streams in Canraria and Madagascar. They also 

 exist in India. 



The Crocodile was considered a sacred animal by the ancient 

 Egyptians. In ruins of temples mummies of crocodiles are still 

 found in a perfect state of preservation. The Romans introduced 

 living crocodiles at the national games in the Colosseum. At first 

 only five were imported, under the sedileship of Scaurus. Under 

 the Emperor Augustus thirty-six were killed in the circus of 

 Flaminius. Several ancient medals represent this reptile, the body 

 of which perfectly resembles those now found in the Nile. There is 

 a truly wonderful fact in the natural history of the crocodile. 

 Listen to what Herodotus, the father of history, tells us with regard 



