THE OB 0 ' E. 
29 
There is rather a curious structure in the vertebi v he neck. These bones are furnished 
with short, transverse processes like false ribs, which ha e the effect of preventing the animal 
from turning its head from side to side. On land, thei Tore, where its feeble limbs are so 
inadequate to the support of the long and heavy body, it can easily be avoided by any one of 
ordinary agility. The eyes are large, and set rather far back upon the head. The ears are 
carefully guarded from the ingress of water by a pair of tightly-closing valves. Below the 
throat are a pair of glands which secrete a substance having a strong musky scent which is 
very disagreeable, and in old individuals taint the whole flesh with its rank odor, and render 
it uneatable to ordinary palates. 
The young of these reptiles are hatched from eggs, which are strangely small in proportion 
to the large dimensions of the adult animal, the newly-hatched offspring being so small as 
hardly to be recognized as belonging to the same species as their parents, especially as there 
are certain differences of shape hereafter to be mentioned. 
These great reptiles are divided, or rather fall naturally, into two families, namely, the 
Crocodiles and the Alligators. All the members of these families can be easily distinguished by 
the shape of their jaws and teeth, the lower canine teeth of the Crocodiles fitting into a notch in 
the edge of the upper jaw, and those of the Alligators fitting into a pit in the upper jaw. This 
peculiarity causes an obvious difference in the outline of the head, the muzzle of the Crocodiles 
being narrowed behind the nostrils, while that of the Alligators forms an unbroken line to the 
extremity. A glance, therefore, at the head will suffice to settle the family to which any 
species belongs. In the Crocodiles, moreover, the hind legs are fringed behind with a series 
of compressed scales. 
Our first example of the Crocodiles is the very remarkable Caviar, or Gangetic Croco- 
dile, sometimes known by the name of Nakoo. 
This curious reptile is one of the largest, if not the very largest of its order, sometimes 
reaching a length of twenty-five feet. As its popular name imports, it is a native of India, 
and swarms in many of the Indian rivers, the Ganges being greatly infested with its presence. 
It is a striking animal, the extraordinary length of its muzzle giving it a most singular and 
rather grotesque aspect. 
This prolongation of the head varies considerably according to the age and sex of the 
individual. In the young Gavial, for example, just hatched from the egg, the head is short 
and blunt, and only attains its full development when the creature has reached adult age. 
The males can be distinguished from the other sex by the shape of the muzzle, which is much 
smaller at the extremity. There are many teeth, the full complement being about one 
hundred and twenty. They are similar in appearance, and about equal in length. 
The color of this species is dark olive-brown, spotted with black. Several species of 
African Gavials are known to zoologists, besides the Asiatic animal, but on account of the 
different formation of the head, such as the absence of a swollen muzzle in the male, and some 
important variations in the plates of the neck and back, they are placed in another genus, and 
termed False Gavials. Two other Crocodiles are named, Bennett’s Gavial {Meet stops ben- 
nettii), which is an inhabitant of Western Africa, and the False Gavial (Mecistops cataphr ac- 
tus). Some naturalists, however, think that these animals are only varieties of the same 
species. The False Gavial is represented in the engraving on next page. 
We now arrive at the true Crocodiles, in which the jaws are moderately lengthened, wide, 
flat, tapering, and rather dilated at the extremities. The most peculiar of these reptiles is 
the long-celebrated Crocodile of Northern Africa. 
This terrible creature is found chiefly in the Nile, where it absolutely swarms, and though 
a most destructive and greatly dreaded animal, is without doubt as valuable in the water as 
the hyena and vulture upon the land. Living exclusively on animal food, and rather pre- 
ferring tainted, or even putrefying to fresh meat, it is of great service in devouring the dead 
animals that would otherwise pollute the waters and surrounding atmosphere. 
It also feeds on fish, which it can catch by means of its great swiftness in the water, 
