Cliap. 38.] 
THE SCINCUS. 
289 
the Mle, have the back armed with a spine,^^ which is edged 
like a knife, as if for this very purpose ; and although these 
animals are much inferior in strength, they contrive to de- 
stroy the crocodile by artifice, which on the other hand at- 
tempts to drive them from their prey, and would reign alone 
in its river as its peculiar domain. For all animals have an 
especial instinct in this respect, and are able to know not 
only what is for their own advantage, but also what is to the 
disadvantage of their enemies ; they fully understand the use 
of their own weapons, they know their opportunity, and the 
weak parts of those with which they have to contend- 
The skin of the belly of the crocodile is soft and thin ; 
aware of this, the dolphins plunge into the water, as if in 
great alarm, and diving beneath its belly, tear it open with 
their spines. There is a race of men also, who are peculiarly 
hostile to this animal ; they are known as the Tentyritse, from 
an island in the Mle which they inhabit.^^ These men are of 
small stature, but of wonderful presence of mind, though for 
this particular object only. The crocodile is a terrible animal 
to those who fly from it, while at the same time it will fly 
from those who pursue it ; these, however, are the only people 
who dare to attack it. They even swim in the river after it, and 
mount its back like so many horsemen ; and just as the animal 
turns up its head for the purpose of biting them, they insert a 
club into its mouth, holding which at each end, with the two 
hands, it acts like a bit, and, by these means they drive the 
captured animal on shore. They also terrify the crocodile so 
much by their voice alone even, as to force it to disgorge 
the bodies which it has lately swallowed, for the purpose of 
burial. This island, therefore, is the only place near which the 
crocodile never swims ; indeed, it is repelled by the odour of 
this race of men, just as serpents are by that of the Psylli.^® The 
^6 Cuvier remarks, that this account cannot really apply to the dolphin, 
because none of the cetacea possess the spines here described. He inves- 
tigates the subject with his usual sagacity, and concludes, with much pro- 
bability, that the animal here referred to was a squalus, the Squalus cen- 
trina, or spinax of Linnaeus ; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 443, 444; Lemaire, vol. 
iii. pp. 422, 423. We have an account of the contest between the crocodile 
and the dolphin in Seneca, Nat. Quaest. B. iv. c. 2. — B. 
97 We have some account of the Tentyritae in ^lian, Anira. Nat. B. x. 
c. 21.— B. See B. xxviii. c. 6. 
98 See B. vii. c. 2. The best description of the Psylli is that given by 
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