THE ALLI0ATOB. 
171 ) 
A.merican contiuent, tlie settlers, deceived by the exaggerated 
accounts of the ferocity of crocodiles in Egypt, allege that 
Ihe real crocodile is only found in the Nile. ' Zoologists have 
however, ascertained that there are in America caymans or 
alligators with obtuse snouts, and legs not indented, and 
crocodiles with pointed snouts and indented legs; and in the 
old continent, both crocodiles and gaviales. The Crocodilus 
^cutus of San Domingo, in which I cannot hitheito S))eci- 
hcally distinguish the crocodiles of the great rivers of the 
Orinoco and the Magdalena, has, according to Cuvier, so 
great a resemblance to the crocodile of the Kilo," that 
d required a minute examination to prove that the rule 
laid down by Buffou relative to the distribution of species 
between the tropical regions of the two continents, was 
correct. 
On my second visit to the Ilavannah, in ISOl, I could 
®ot return to the Sienega of Batabano ; and therefore I had 
jhe two species, called caymans and crocodiles by the inha- 
bitants, brought to mo, at a great expense. Two crocodiles 
arrived alive ; the oldest was four feet three inches long ; 
‘bey had been caught with great difficulty, and were con- 
ycyed, muzzled and bound, on a mule, for they were excced- 
Uigly vigorous and fierce. In order to observe their habits 
®nd movements, t we placed them in a great hall, where, by 
climbing on a very high piece of furniture, we could see them 
attack groat dogs. Having seen much of crocodiles during 
months, on the Orinoco, the liio Apurc, and the Magda- 
lena, we were glad to have another opportunity of observing 
their habits before our return to Eurojie. The animals sent 
to Us from Batabano had the snout nearly as sharp as the 
Crocodiles of the Orinoco and the Magdalena (Crocodilus 
Tills striking analogy was ascertained by M. Geoffroy de Saint- 
ilaire in 1803, when General Roctiambeau sent a crocodile from San 
g tt^rngo to the Museum of Natural History at Paris. M. Bonpland 
’’lyaelf had made drawings and detailed descriptions in 1801 and 
02, of the same species wliich inhabit the great rivers of South .America, 
our passage on the Apure, the Orinoco, and the Magdalena, 
^^6 committed the mistake so common to travellers, of not sending them 
once to Europe, together with some young specimens. 
, T M. Descourtils, who knows the habits of the crocodile better thap 
y other author who has written on tliat reptile, saw, like Dampier and 
J'clf, the Crocodilus acutus often touch his tail with bis mouth. 
N 2 
