CROCODILE (krok'6-dil). Although the term KitoK6&LX0s, lizard, crocodile, occurs in the Greek version, there is no specific word in the Hebrew of which it is the acknowledged representative. (See DRAGON; LEVIATIIAN; WHALE.) The crocodiles which we have to notice at pres ent consist of three varieties, or perhaps species, all natives of the Nile, distinguishable by the dif ferent arrangement of the scute or bony studs on the neck, and the number of rows of the same pro cesses along the back. Their general lizard form is too well known to need particular description; but it may be remarked that of the whole family of crocodiles, comprehending the sharp-beaked gavials of India, the alligators of the west, and the crocodiles properly so called, the last are sup plied with the most vigorous instruments for swimming, both from the strength and vertical breadth of their tails and from the fingers of their paws having deeper webs. Although all have from thirty to forty teeth in each jaw, shaped like spikes, without breadth so as to cut, or surface so as to admit of grinding, the true crocodile alone has one or more teeth on each side in both jaws, exserted, that is, not closing within but outside the jaw. They have no external car beyond a fol licle of skin, and the eyes have a position above the plane of the head, the pupils being contractile, like those of a cat, and in some having a luminous greenish tinge, which may have suggested the allusion to 'the lids of the morning' (Job xli :0;). The upper jaw is not movable, btu. as well as the forehead, is extremely dense and bony; the rest of the upper surface being covered with several rows of bosses, or plated ridges, which on the tail arc at last reduced from two to one, each scale having a high horny crest, which acts as part of a great fin. Although destitute of a real voice crocodiles when angry produce a snorting sound. something like a deep growl ; and occasionally they open the mouth very wide, remain for a time thus exposed facing the breeze, and, closing the jaws with a sudden snap. cause a report like the
fall of a trap-door. The gullet of the crocodile is very wide, the tongue being completely tied to the lower jaw ; and beneath it are glands exuding a musky substance. On land the crocodile, next to the gavial, is the most active. and in the water it is also the species that most readily freaucnts the open sea. Of the immense number of genera which we have seen or examined, none reached to 25 feet in length, and we believe the specimen in the vaults of the British Museum to be one of the largest. Sheep are observed to be unmolested by these animals ; but where they abound, no pigs can be kept, perhaps from these frequenting the muddy shores; for we have known only one in stance of crocodiles being encountered in woods not immediately close to the water's side: usually they bask on sandy islands. As their teeth are long, but not fitted for cutting. they seize their prey, which they cannot masticate, and swallow it nearly entire, or bury it beneath the waves to macerate. Having very small excretory organs, their digestion requires, and accordingly they are found to possess, an immense biliary apparatus. They are oviparous, burying their eggs in the sand; and the female remains in the vicinity to dig them out on the day the young have broken the shell. Crocodiles are caught with hooks, and they seldom succeed in cutting the rope when properly prepared. Crocodiles and alligators take the sea, and are found on islands many leagues distant from other land. The fact is particularly notable at the Grand Caymanas, in the sea of Mexico, which is almost destitute of fresh water. It is indeed owing to this circumstance that the same species may frequent all the rivers of a great extent of coast, as is the case with sonic found in Africa, whence they spread to India and the Malayan islands.