Crocodiles. REPTILES. Crocodile of the Nile. 79 
approach them ; they prey upon every animal which 
comes within their reach, and man himself is not free 
from their attacks, for instances are by no means rare, 
both in ancient and modern times, of their suddenly 
seizing upon human beings, and carrying them off to 
their watery haunts.” They are often called the 
tyrants of the fresh waters, and their capacious mouth 
and numerous strong and conical teeth fit them well 
for a rapacious life. James Montgomery happily 
describes the family in a few words : — 
“ The crocodile, the dragon of the waters. 
In iron panoply, fell as the plague. 
And merciless as famine, cranched his prey. 
While from his jaws, with dreadful fangs all serried, 
The life-blood dyed the waves with deadly streams.” 
In general form the body of the Crocodiles is de- 
pressed ; and the tail is long, tapering, thick at the 
base, and compressed at the sides, so as to form a sort 
of paddle or oar. The legs are so very short, that 
they appear as if they could never support the weight 
of the body. They have no clavicle or collar bone. 
The fore feet have five toes, the two outer of which 
are destitute of claws. The toes in the hind feet are^ 
only four in number, the outermost of which alone 
wants a claw. These latter are connected together 
by a membrane or web, while those of the fore feet are 
free. The partially webbed feet, the flat compressed 
tail, and the position of the nostrils at the tip of the 
muzzle, all sufficiently show the aquatic nature of the 
Crocodiles. 
The female deposits her eggs in the sand. In some 
species she makes a sort of nest in which she lays 
them, then covers them with leaves and debris of 
plants, and thus leaves them to be hatched by the heat 
generated there from the fermentation of the vege- 
table matters. Some of the Crocodiles are said to lay 
three times after short intervals; and about from 
twenty to thirty each time. The eggs are covered 
with a hard white shell, are about the size of those 
of a goose, and are said to be good eating. The 
young are hatched in about twenty or thirty days, and 
the moment they quit the shell, they make with all 
speed to the water. A great many of these eggs are 
destroyed by the ichneumon and tupinambis ; and vast 
numbers of the young are devoured by the fresh- water 
tortoises, voracious fishes, various amphibious animals, 
and even, it is said, by the old Crocodiles themselves, 
when pressed by hunger. In all probability these 
animals live to a considerable age, perhaps at least 
that of man ; and their growth appears to be slow. 
They are able, like other reptiles, to sustain long fasts, 
and some of the species, where the heat is not so very 
great, bury themselves during the winter in the mud. 
Their principal places of abode are the banks of large 
rivers and marshy lakes; and they are often found 
living in society together in large troops. Their chief 
food consists of fish, frogs, water-birds, and any other 
animals they can secure. Even dogs, swine, and oxen, 
it is said, cannot always escape their voracity. Man, 
himself, sometimes falls a victim. In order to obtain 
their food they often have recourse to artifice ; swell- 
ing out their lungs with air, so as to make their bodies 
specifically lighter than water, they allow themselves 
to float immovable on the surface of the river, where 
they look exactly like a branch of a tree, and thus 
their unsuspecting prey come around them. 
The Crocodiles are all strangers to Europe, and with 
the exception, perhaps, of one or two, are equally so to 
Australia. In the three other parts of the world, how- 
ever, they are found, and often in great numbers. In 
Dr. Gray’s arrangement of this order, these animals 
are divided into two families, the true Crocodiles and 
the Alligators. The latter are peculiar to America, 
while the former are common to both worlds. 
Family of CROCODILES {Crocodilidce). 
The species of this family are chiefly characterized, 
and distinguished scientifically, by the teeth. The 
lower canines fit into a notch in the edge of the upper 
jaw when the mouth is closed. At the same time 
they are known by the muzzle behind the nostrils 
being much narrowed by the hind legs having a fringe 
of compressed scales behind, and by the toes being 
webbed to the tip. 
The family contains three genera, and about fourteen 
species. 
THE EGYPTIAN CROCODILE or the CROCODILE OF 
THE Nile {Crocodilus vulgaris) is the species which 
forms our illustration of the genus Crocodilus — Plate 7, 
fig. 2 ; and Plate 8, fig. 5 (teeth). This huge creature, 
which often reaches the length of from twenty-five to 
thirty feet, is a native of the Nile, the Senegal, Niger, 
Gambia, and probably most of the rivers of Northern 
and Western Africa. It appears to have been well 
known from the earliest periods, and it even seems to 
have been worshipped in Egypt previous to our historic 
records of that country. At Memphis it was reared with 
the greatest care by certain priests who had charge of 
it, and who nourished it with abundant food. Sacrifices 
and offerings were presented to it, it was adorned with 
trinkets and jewels, and lodged in a lake or basin in the 
midst of the temple. Treated in this manner, the Cro- 
codile lost its ferocity, and became so tame as to be led 
about in religious processions and ceremonies. When 
the celebrated Greek historian Herodotus visited Egypt, 
which was about 400 years before the birth of Christ, 
the habits of this animal were well known. His object 
was, in a great measure, to investigate the religious 
history of that people, and therefore he was insensibly 
led to the study of an animal which was so mixed up 
with their sacred rites as the Crocodile. At that time 
he informs us that the inhabitants of the Thebais and 
the shores of the lake Moeris regarded these creatures 
with the highest reverence. Each person in that dis- 
trict reared a Crocodile which they trained up, suspend- 
ing gold and jewels from its earlids, and adorning its 
fore feet with rings of gold. They fed it carefully and 
with delicacies, and when it died it was embalmed and 
placed in some consecrated repository. Numerous 
mummies of young Crocodiles in the British Museum, 
obtained from their primitive repositories after a lapse of 
more than two thousand years since their embalmment, 
and still in perfect preservation, attest the truth of that 
statement. The description given us of the Crocodile 
