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GOTJLD’S MONITOR. 
population, that the little hermit crab, which is found so plentifully in periwinkle shells, is the 
young of the lobster before it is big and hard enough to have a shell of its own. 
It is almost always found in the water, though it sometimes makes excursions on land 
in search of prey. To the natives it is a most useful creature, being one of the appointed 
means for keeping the numbers of the crocodile within due bounds It not only searches on 
land for the eggs of the crocodile, and thus destroys great numbers before they are hatched, 
but chases the young in the water, through which it swims with great speed and agility, 
and devours them unless they can take refuge under the adult of their own species, from 
whose protection the Monitor will not venture to take them. 
NILOTIC MON ITOR . — Monitor niloticm. 
When full grown, the Miotic Monitor attains a length of five or six feet. The color 
of this species is olive-gray above, with blackish mottlings. The head is gray, and in the 
young animal, is marked with concentric rows of white spots. Upon the back of the neck is a 
series of whitish- yellow bands, of a horse-shoe, or semilunar shape, set crosswise, which, 
together with the equal-sized scales over the eyes, serve as marks which readily distinguish it 
from many other species. The under parts are gray, with cross bands of black, and marked 
with white spots when young. 
Specimens belonging to this genus are scattered over the greater part of the world. For 
example, the Indian Monitor ( Monitor draccena) is found in the country from which it takes 
its name. It is rather a prettily marked animal, being brown with black spots when old, and 
yellow eye-like marks when young. Another species, G-ould’s Monitor ( Monitor gouldii), 
inhabits Australia, being most commonly found on the western side of the land. 
