236 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
greater malignity. The figure of these animals is not less 
various ; sometimes swollen in the belly, sometimes, pursed 
up at the throat; sometimes with a rough set of spines on the 
back, like the teeth of a saw ; sometimes with teeth, at others 
with none; sometimes venomous, at others harmless, and 
even philanthropic: sometimes smooth and even; sometimes 
with a long, slender tail; and often with a shorter blun' one. 
But their greatest distinction arises from their manner of 
bringing form their young : some of them are viviparous ; 
some are oviparous ;• and some bring forth small spawn, like 
fishes. 
The only animals of this genus which are common in Great 
Britain, are the Scaly Lizard , which is about six inches in 
length; the Brown Lizard, or Eft, which is about three 
inches long; and the Warty Lizard, or Salamander, of 
which we shall presently treat more at large. 
The Crocodile is an animal placed at a happy distance 
from the inhabitants of Europe, and formidable only in 
those regions where men are scarce, and arts are but little 
known. In all the cultivated and populous parts of the 
world, the great animals are entirely banished or rarely 
seen. The appearance of such raises at once a whole 
country up in arms to oppose their force; and their lives 
generally pay the forfeit of their rashness 
To look for this animal in all its natural terrors, grown 
to an enormous size, propagated in surprising numbers, and 
committing unceasing devastations, we must go to the unin- 
habited regions of Africa and America, to those immense 
rivers that roll through extensive and desolate kingdoms, 
where arts have never penetrated, where force only makes 
distinction, and the most powerful animals exert their 
strength with confidence and security. 
Of this terrible animal there are two kinds; the croco- 
dile, properly so called, and the cayman or alligator. Tra- 
vellers, however, have rather made the distinction than 
Nature; for in the general outline, and in the nature of 
those two animals, they are entirely the same. The distinc- 
tions usually made between the crocodile and alligator are 
these : the body of the crocodile is more slender than that 
of the alligator; its snout runs off tapering from the fore- 
head, like that of a greyhound ; while that of the other is 
indented, like the nose of a lap-dog. The crocodile has 
also a much wider swallow, and is of an ash-colour. 
This animal grows to a great length, being sometimes 
found thirty feet long, from the tip of thesnoirt to the end of the 
tail; its most usual length, however, is eighteen. One which 
