184 COMMON CROCODILE. 



8. Salamanders, Newts, or Efts, with soft skins, 



and of which some are water-lizards. 



9. Snake- Lizards, with extremely long bodies, 



very short legs, and minute feet. 



The above divisions neither are, nor can be, per- 

 fectly precise ; since species may occur which may 

 with almost equal propriety be referred to either 

 of the neighbouring sections ; but in general they 

 will be found useful in the investigation of the 

 species. 



, CROCODILES. 



COMMON CROCODILE. 



Lacerta Crocodilus. Z. capite cataphrado, nucha carinata, 



Cauda superne cristis hinis later alibus horida. Lin. Syst. Nat. 



Gmel. p. 1057. Blumenb. Naturg, 262. 

 Lizard with mailed head, carinated neck, and tail furnished on 



the upper part with two lateral crested processes. 

 Lacerta cauda compressa serrata, pedibus triunguiculatis, palmis 



pentadactyliSj plantis tetradactylis palmatis. Lin. Syst. Nat. 



p. 359. 



Crocodilus. Gesn. Aldr. Bellon. Jonst. 8fC. 

 The Common or Nilotic Crocodile. 



The Crocodile, so remarkable for its size and 

 powers of destruction, has in all ages been re- 

 garded as one of the most formidable animals of 

 the warmer regions. It is a native of Asia and 

 Africa, but seems to be most common in the 

 latter ; inhabiting large rivers, as the Nile, the 



