LIZARDS AND CROCODILES AT THE ZOO 265 
said, to the early clays spent in the cold and cramped 
quarters provided before the building of the new 
house. It is, however, a formidable creature ; and 
as it sprawls on its stomach across the big tree-stump 
in the centre, with its ugly webbed claws dangling 
on either side, its mouth partly open, and its tail 
drooping in the water, its appearance is sufficiently 
repulsive to deter the most well-meaning visitor from 
offering the charitable bun. Crocodiles from the 
Nile, India, and Ceylon share the waters with the 
alligators. The crocodile evidently bears the same 
analogy to the alligator as the frog to the toad. 
It is lighter in colour and in build, and a more active, 
as well as a more malicious creature. Neither is it 
so entirely hideous, though the lower jaw shows 
projecting tusks like those of a wild boar. The 
creature’s eyes, celebrated in connection with the 
“ crocodile tears,” with which legend declared that 
it attracted its sympathizing victims to the bank of 
the stream, are highly “ decorative,” if not beautiful. 
The head, narrow and flat, resembles the head of 
a snake ; the nose is sharp, and the fixed and motion- 
less eyes are of the palest dusty gold, set in a short 
horny pillar of a deeper golden brown. The croco- 
dile’s coat of armour is less complete than that of 
the alligator; and its quick, vivacious movements 
make it far more troublesome to the keepers when 
the tank has to be refilled and cleansed, than the 
big alligators, which will allow themselves to be used 
as stepping-stones as the water ebbs away. The 
