flattened at the sides; there are five toes before and four behind, of which the innermost three on each foot are armed with claws; the toes are connected by intervening membranes, varying in extent. There is a single row of pointed teeth in each jaw; the tongue is fleshy, flat, and free only at the extreme edge; whence the Crocodile was vulgarly reputed to be without a tongue. The back and tail, as already intimated, are covered by large and strong scales of square form, elevated into a ridge in the middle; the tail is surmounted by a deeply notched or saw-like crest, which is double at the base; the scales of the belly are delicate and smooth. The nostrils are situated at the end of the muzzle, and open by small crescent-form slits, closed by valves; they lead through a long and straight canal pierced in the bones of the palate, to the back of the mouth. The lower jaw is prolonged behind the skull, and this structure causes the upper jaw to seem moveable; but this is simply an illusion. The external ear is closed at pleasure by means of two fleshy lips; the eye is furnished with three lids: two small glandular orifices are placed beneath the throat, whence exudes a musky secretion, the odour of which strongly marks these animals even for years after their dried skins have been preserved in a museum.
The Reptiles of this Order are of large size and great strength; and as they are exclusively carnivorous and predaceous, and very ferocious, they are dreaded, not without reason, in the tropical countries which they chiefly inhabit. Yet these creatures, feared and hated as they are, were not created in vain. "In the grand policy
