THE 
CROCODILE. 
Generic Character „ 
Body four-footed, tailed, naked. 
Specific Character, &c. 
LIZARD with mailed head, carinated neck, and 
tail furnilhed on the upper part with two la¬ 
teral crefted proceffes. 
The common, or Nilotic CROCODILE. 
The Crocodile, fo remarkable for its fize and 
powers of deftrudtion, has in all ages been regarded 
as one of the moll noxious animals of the warmer 
regions. It is a native of Afia and Africa. The 
fize to which it fometimes arrives is prodigious ; 
fpecimens being frequently feen meafuring upwards 
of twenty feet in length ; and there are inftances of 
their exceeding the length of thirty feet. The ar¬ 
mour with which the Crocodile is covered may be 
numbered among the moll: curious and elaborate 
pieces of Nature’s mechanifm. In the full-grown 
animal this armour, on the upper part of the body, 
is fo firong and thick as eaiily to repel a muiket-ball. 
On the lower parts it is much thinner, and of a more 
pliable 
