$16 Difference between Crocodiles of the New and Old Continent. {May 1, 
are made into veils, fhawls, and dreffes, 
of which a confiderable quantity is ex- 
ported. 
The hofiery manufaGture requires, like 
all others, regulations of police to eftablith 
the refpeétive duties of the various indi- 
viduals it employs, and to procure to the 
mafter-tradefmen fufficient fecurity for the 
fafety and proper employment of the ma- 
terials ufed in the bufinefs. 
Confident of its fuperiority to foreign 
fabrications in this line, that of Lyons fo- 
licits no other proteétion from government 
than to ftipulate, in its treaties with fo- 
reign powers, for its admiffion abroad 
upon a fair equality of the duties of en- 
try. 
This manufa&ture, as well as every 
other of the filken branch, claims from 
government, the protection, care, and en- 
couragement of mulberry-trees, and that 
it would attend to the neceffity of re-pla- 
cing the great number of thofe precious 
trees that were torn up during the ftorms 
of the revolution. 
The French hofiery-manufacture did not 
begin to flourifh till the miniltry of Col- 
bert, to whom our national induftry is fo 
highly indebted. Under his aufpices, the 
mechanifm of arts arrived to great per- 
fe&tion. Time and labour were econo- 
-ynized, and French productions acquired a 
noted fuperiority over others. 
An edi& took place in the reign of 
Louis XV. which, by permitting the ex- 
portation of looms, was greatly prejudicial 
to this manufactory. It was repealed, 
indeed, on the confequences being heavily 
felt ; but Spain, Portugal, Ruffia,Germany, 
and Pruffia, had already made confiderable 
importations: they had procured feven or 
$00 looms from Lyons alone. Not fatis- 
fied with thefe, they enticed away our 
fmiths, our dyers, and other workmen, 
which proved a ftill heavier lefs. It was 
only by means of the great improvements 
in the mechanical procefs of this manu- 
faSture, that it was able at laft to repair 
the damage done to it by the edi&t of 
Louis XV. 
Jo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
\ | AY I be permitted to afk, through 
the channel of your Mifcellany, if 
there be any method of purifying cafks 
which are grown mufty, except charring ; 
efpecially as that frequently does not an-’ 
{wer the purpofe. Iam, Sir, 
A ConsTANT READER. 
O4.27, 1802, 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Ox the DIFFERENCES which exift beteween. 
the CROCODILES of the OLD and of the 
NEW CONTINENT. 
very accurate determination of the 
large {pecies of animals is of more. 
importance than is generally imagined, 
even for different branches of particular 
natural hiftory. It is for the want of this 
fort of determinations that travellers have 
placed in Ameyica many animals cf the 
ancient continent which never exifted there, 
fuch as the lion, the tiger, the panther, and 
fome otheis. They miftook for them dif- 
ferent, although nearly allied, animals. 
The fame error has taken place with re- 
{pe& to crocodiles, even on the part of fome 
naturalifts. This error Citizen Cuvier im- 
pugns. He has fhewn that the generality 
of authors have not underftood the differ- 
ence which exilts between the crocodiles 
of the Old and the New World, or have ill 
difcerned and worfe explained it. He has 
proved, by a methodical defcription, that 
thefe animals form two fpecies, whereof 
the following are the diftinétive charaéters : 
1. The crocodile has an oblong fnout, the 
upper mandible of which is fluted on each 
fide, to leave room for the fourth lower 
tooth; its hind feet are entirely palmated. 
2. The caiman has an obtufe frout, its 
upper mandible receives the fourth lower 
tooth, in a particular cavity which conceals. 
it, its hind feet are half-palmated. 
The firftof thefe fpecies is of the Olc 
World, the fecond of the New. The nam 
of the laft is, neverthelefs, an aboriginal € 
the Indies, where it defignates the con- 
mon crocodile ; and from whence it mit 
have been tranfported to America, by ne 
Spaniards, or by the Hollanders, The 
author has not comprehended in hisre- 
fearches the long-beaked crocodile, or 
gavial, which forms, with the confet of 
all, a particular fpecies. 
On two new fpecies of oviparous jua- 
drupeds.— 
Thefe two f{pecies, defcribed by Quzen 
Lacepede, are not only intereftig by 
their novelty; they likewife prent a 
number of digits or claws, whie had 
not been hitherto obferved in the safs of 
reptiles. The firft, that which ~itizen 
Lacepede names monodaétyle, has in re- 
ality, but one digit to each ofts feet. 
Thefe feet are fo fhort, and the tdy and 
the tail are fo long, that the annal very 
much refembles an adder. Its to! length 
is 0.488. It is covered wit f{cales, 
difpofed in tranfverfal bands. ‘he other 
fpecies, named tetradattyle, hs feet as 
fhort, and the body as long, athe fore- 
going 
