CROCODILE (Lat. crocodifus, Gk. KpoK6det Roc, krokodeilos). An aquatic lacertifo•m car nivorous reptile, comparatively gigantic in size (several feet in length). representing the exten sive subclass Croeodilia, regarded as the most highly organized of reptiles; more strictly one of the type-genus Crocodiles, of the family Croco the internal anatomy generally is much advanced. The heart has four distinct chambers, preventing an admixture of arterial and venous blood; and the organs of sense are well developed. Their limbs are of much more use to them in walking than are those of either turtles or newts, yet their real home is in the water, where they swim by means of twisting strokes of their compressed tails, which arc also powerful weapons, and of aid in gaining food, since animals standing al the edge of a piece of Water deep enmigh to permit a crocodile to swim close to the shore unobserved are frequently swept into the stream by a blow of the tail, then seized and drowned.
-111 crocodilians are oviparous. The eggs are about the size of those of a goose, and are buried in the sand or mud to be hatched by the heat of the sun alone. The females of some, if not all the species, guard them and take care of their young; yet the eggs and very young are preyed on by civets, a. monitor-limrd, and many other enemies. In warm countries crocodiles bury themselves in mud in times of drought. and in cold countries during winter. They feed on fish, biqls, and mammals, and many human beings lose their lives to them in certain regions. The necessity of taking small pieces of food, induced by their rigidly articulated jaws and unclastic throat, compels them to sink all their large prey and keep it until it is sufficiently macerated to be torn into small pieces.
All the species have a voice. described as a loud short bark or croak, heard at night, or when typical of the order Eustachia. dilians differ from lizards in many points of structure, and prominently in the horny plates within the thick skill which form a dorsal armor, and• the firm setting of the strong teeth into al veoli, the fourth tooth often being much enlarged as a seizer. The skull has greater solidity and the reptile is angry. The age to which they live is unknown. but they arrive at reproductive ma turity when about tell years old, and seem to con tinue to grow for a century or more. Captives. and those often alarmed, show an ability to learn from experience.
"The recent geographical distribution of the various kinds of Crocodilia loses its mystery." says Gadow, "when we recollect that during the Tertiary period alligators, crocodiles, and lung snouted gavials existed in Europe. The solitary species of alligator in China is the last living reminder of their former Periaretie distribution. Th, group, taken as a whole, is otherwise now intertropical. crocodiles alone inhabiting the PaleiFtropical region, together with long-snonted forms in the Oriental subregion, while alligators and caymans, with a few crocodiles, live in America." The order Eustachia contains the crocodilians, ancient and modern. Two other (extinct) orders
are recognized Gadow (1902), both small and peculiar groups known only in late Mesozoic rooks. The genus _Etosaurus represents the order Pseudosuchia. and Belodon the order Parasuchia. These and other Mesozoic crocodiles were marine, and scent to have been descended from some terrestrial dinosaurian stock. "So far as modern reptiles are concerned, only the C'helonia and Sphenodon are related to the Crocodilia, while monitors and other lizards resemble them only superficially." The crocodilians (Eustachia) fall into seven families: (1) Teleosaurithe, fossil in the Lias and Mite of Europe; marine, and of the general appearance of gavials, with very lung and slender snouts (see Figure 1). (2) Metrio•hynchithe, fossil in the Upper ()ante of Europe; marine. (3) Alaerorhyuchicht. fossil in fresh-water de posits of Wealden, etc., of Europe. (4) Gaviali the. the gavials (see GAVIAL) fossil and recent. 15) Atopsauridre, fossil in the Upper 061ite of France: diminutive alligator-like reptiles only about a foot long. (6) Goniopholithe, large fossil crocodiles of the late Mesozoic. (7) Crocodilidte, true crocodiles and alligators.
Of the crocodiles proper (which are character ized by their narrow, elongated heads and much webbed feet), the best and longest-known is the celebrated Croeodilus rulgaris of the Nile, which was revered, protected, and when dead em balmed by certain sects of the ancient Egyptians. Crocodile-worship, according to Flinders-Petrie, was indigenous, and one of the oldest worships of Egypt. It was most prevalent in Fayum, the Lake of the Crocodile,' whose marshy shores were especially favorable to that reptile, and which was the seat of the crocodile-god Sebek. Up the Nile. other places were devoted to this primitive worship, while at neighboring towns, such as Den derak, Apollinopolis, and Heraeleopolis, it was detested. In the very earliest times the crocodile was regarded as a minister ,of vengeance, but not divine. Nowadays these animals are so much hunted that few remain in the lower Nile, but in its upper waters, and in other African rivers, •roeodiles are still dangerously plentiful. The reptiles also abound in Aladagasear; but the 'common' one on the 'West Coast, from Senegal to the Congo, is Crorodilus cataphractos. Two species inhabit the fresh waters and estuaries of India (see Muncmo, one ranging to Ceylon, and eastward to China, the Malay Islands, and Australia. A local species also inhabits northern Australia and Queensland. There are three crocodiles in North and South America and the West Indies. One (('rocodiitts Amcricanus) ranges as far north as Florida.
The eggs of crocodiles are prized by some people as food, the musk-glands are taken for perfume, and the skin and fat are articles of con siderable commercial value.
Consult Oadow, Amphibiu and Reptiles (Lon don and New York. 1002) ; and authorities on Egypt, Central Africa, ludia, Ceylon, and Aus tralasia. See A LUC ATM