3g4 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



with a slender muzzle (crocodilus acutus), This 

 species is peculiar to the Antilles and South Ame- 

 rica. M. de Humboldt saw a prodigious number 

 of them in the river Orinoco, and he measured 

 one which proved to be 23 feet long. It 

 is a singular fact, that in extreme heat they be- 

 come torpid like our lizards in a cold winter. 

 M. Descourtils, who observed this species in 

 St. Domingo, says, that the female deposits its 

 eggs in the sand, comes in quest of them when 

 they are ready to be hatched, and defends its 

 young with great courage. 



At the side of the crocodiles we observe the 

 gavial {crocodilus gangeticus), which is remark- 

 able on account of the extreme length of its 

 muzzle ; it inhabits the Ganges, lives on fish, and 

 is perfectly inoffensive to man. 



The saurians attached to the wall are : the 

 bicarinated crocodile from India: the pike muz- 

 zled caiman, which inhabits the waters of the 

 Missouri and Mississipi : the caiman with bony 

 eyelids, from Cayenne: the ouaran of the Nile 

 (lacerta nilotica), which was brought from 

 Egypt by M. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire ; this great 

 lizard feeds on the eggs of the crocodile, and we 



crown him with owers. M. Leschenault witnessed this singular 

 ceremony. The species which is the object of it is the bicarinated 

 crocodile. 



