has been said of the stratagems employed by the crocodile to seize its prey: that it lies like a log on the banks of rivers, or floats inactive on the surface, and then springs forward whenever the victim comes within its reach. This may be partly true, though it appears under many exaggerations; for it is well authenticated that it remains motionless until considerable objects are quite close, and evidently within its reach; then it leaps upon them. The agility of the crocodile is not so great, even when in pursuit of prey, that a man may not escape at tolerable speed, more especially by frequent deviations from the straight path. The blow with the tail, suddenly given, is principally to be dreaded, and the irascibility of the animal when attacked, or the female at the head of her young.

Crocodiles are oviparous, and the eggs are but small in proportion to their size, not being quite so large as those of a goose. They are, as is the case with the eggs of reptiles generally, equally thick at both ends; they are covered with an envelope which hardens in the air, but it contains very little carbonate of lime. The males are more numerous than the females, and fierce battles ensue between them in pairing time. These battles of gallantry are generally decided in the water, and they are accompanied by the most dismal bellowing that can possibly be imagined; this noise is said to resemble both that of the bull and the bittern, but to be much louder, and more hoarse and husky than either.

the

The female digs a cavity in the earth, in which she places her eggs in a circular form, in successive layers, and with portions of earth between, the whole being afterward covered up. The nest is generally placed in a dry hillock, and the earth is gathered up, so that on the average eggs are about ten inches below the surface. This being done, the mother abandons them to be hatched by the heat of the sun; yet instinct prompts her frequently to revisit the spot as the term of exclusion approaches. She then testifies uncommon agitation, roaming about the place and uttering a peculiar growling, as if to awaken her hideous offspring to animation. The period of maturity being at length attained, the nascent crocodiles answer to her solicitude by a kind of yelping like puppies. A hollow murmur in return denotes her satisfaction, and she hastens to scrape up the earth with such anxiety that several of the young are generally crushed under her unwieldy body.

Having withdrawn them from their nest, the mother leads them straightway to the neighboring water; but now her utmost vigilance is required for their preservation, for, unlike the instinct

with which she is animated, the male, silently approaching, will frequently devour them before she is aware of their danger. He perpetually seeks their destruction; and the watch of the female over her young is protracted for three months from their first appearance. An opinion is prevalent that the crocodile continues growing during its whole existence, that it lives to a great age, and that the utmost limits of its size are scarcely known.

This species is very voracious and powerful, and has frequently made fatal attacks upon human beings. It was held sacred by the Egyptians of the Lower Nile, but was eaten by those at Elephantine. Thirty-six of these were introduced at the amphitheater of Rome by Augustus. Some have supposed it to be the Leviathan of Scripture. Many were kept tame by the ancient Egyptians, and were ornamented with gold rings and precious stones, set in their ears; their feet were garnished with bracelets, and they were thus presented to the veneration of the people. These reptiles were fed on cake and roast meat, and mulled wine was poured down their throats. Herodotus says that a species of plover was wont to enter the mouth of the crocodile to feed on the parasitic worms in its tongue, and that the monster tolerated this, in view of the relief it gave. Modern observation has confirmed this curious account. This species has mostly disappeared from the Lower Nile, and is only common in that river to the south of Middle Egypt. It is, however, abundant in many of the great rivers of Africa.

There are several species of Crocodile in Africa and Asia, generally resembling the preceding:

THE CROCODILE.

the ST. DOMINGO CROCODILE, C. acutus, has the muzzle longer in proportion and more pointed than that we have described, but more enlarged at the base. The scaly plates on the back are ranged in four lines. This species is common in the rivers and marshes of Hayti, and most of the other large West India Islands. It has been confounded with the crocodile of the Nile, and also with the alligators. of the American continent; its manners are similar to those of the latter, but there are considerable differences in its external structure.

Another species, the AQUE PALIN, C. rhombifer, is found in Cuba.

Genus GAVIAL: Gavialis. Of this there are several varieties, found in Asia. The GANGETIC GAVIAL OF NAKOO, G. Gan

getica, has the jaws produced to an enormous length, forming a long, slender snout, at the extremity of which there is a large cartilaginous protuberance, in which the nostrils are situated. The teeth are very numerous, and nearly equal in size throughout the whole of the jaws. The hind-feet are palmated to the extremities of the toes. This species is found abundantly in the fresh waters of India, where it sometimes attains a length of thirty feet. It is not dangerous to man nor the larger quadrupeds. It was known to the ancients, Ælian mentioning the existence of a crocodile in the Ganges which had a horn at the extremity of its nose. Though, as we have stated, there are several marked varieties, there appears to be but one species.

Genus ALLIGATOR: Alligator. This includes several species, all belonging to the American continent, and called Alligators in the United States, Caimans and Jacares in South America. They resemble the true crocodiles, but there are structural differences which are thus stated by Cuvier: "The alligators have the head less oblong than the crocodiles; its length is to its breadth, measured at the articulation of the jaws, as three to two; the teeth are unequal in length and size; there are at least nineteen, sometimes even as many as twenty-two, on each side in the lower jaw, and nineteen or twenty in the upper. The front teeth of the under jaw pierce through the upper at a certain age, and the fourth from the front, which are the longest of all, enter into VOL. II.-47.

corresponding holes of the upper jaw, in which they are concealed when the mouth is closed. The hind legs and feet are round, and neither fringed nor pectinated on the sides; the toes are not completely webbed, the connecting membrane only extending to their middle; and finally, the post-orbital holes of the cranium, so conspicuous in the true crocodiles, are very minute in the alligators, or even entirely wanting." The crocodiles, properly so called, on the contrary, have the head at least twice as long as it is broad; fifteen teeth on each side of the lower jaw, and nineteen on each side of the upper. The incisor or front teeth, as in the alligators, pierce through the upper jaw at a certain age, but the fourth or largest of the lower jaw, instead of being received into a corresponding hole of the upper, passes into a notch on each side of it; and finally, the hind-feet are bordered by a denticulated fringe, and the toes are completely united by a swimming membrane. Notwithstanding these differences of conformation, the manners of the crocodiles and alligators are very similar, the former, however, attaining a greater size than the latter.

The MISSISSIPPI ALLIGATOR, A. Mississippiensis, sometimes called Pike-headed Alligator, inhabits the rivers and lagoons of the Gulf States. It grows to the length of fourteen or fifteen feet, the head being one-seventh of the entire length, and half as broad at the articulation of the jaws as it is long. It appears to be more fierce and voracious than the South American species, often attacks men and quadrupeds while bathing or crossing the rivers, and is said to prefer the flesh of the negro to all other food. During the heat of the day, these animals either lie stretched and languid on the banks, or in the mud on the shores of the rivers and lagoons, and as the other natives of such localities-the winged ones which sport in the sun excepted-arẻ generally at rest at these times, the consequence is, that, during the day, they capture but few animals, excepting such as wander near them. When evening comes, however, they begin to move, and the roaring of the larger ones is terrific. It is described as a compound of the sounds of the bull and the bittern, but far louder than either; and it grates and shivers on the ear as if the ground were shaking. Whether it produces any effect upon the prey of the alligators, in making that prey disclose itself by its efforts to escape, is not known; and, indeed, harsh and terrific as it is,