CHAPTER XIII 
THE CROCODILE ( CROCODILUS ) 
This reptile is an intruder among the mammalia, 
and may appear out of place in a description of 
wild beasts and their ways, but it inhabits the 
same localities as the hippopotamus, and, being 
equally amphibious, I venture to exalt it to the 
society of superior animals. 
As lizards are found distributed in great varieties 
throughout the world, in like manner we find the 
largest of all lizards, the crocodile, under various 
names, in nearly every river of the tropics. In 
America this reptile is generally known as an 
alligator, and some persons pretend to define the 
peculiarity which distinguishes that variety from 
the crocodile, but I regard the distinction in the 
same light as that between the leopard and the 
panther, the difference existing merely in a name. 
As we see many varieties of cats which are classed 
as leopards, in the same manner the different 
varieties of alligators may be classed under the 
name crocodile. There is a peculiar species in 
the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and other Indian rivers 
