. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. CROCODILIDAE 461 The Nile Crocodile is essentially African, ranging from the Senegal to the Cape and to Egypt. It is also very common in Madagascar. Nothing is known about its occurrence in Arabia, but a few specimens of rather small size seem still to exist in Syria, in the Wadi Zerka, an eastern tributary of the Jordan. Even in historical times the Crocodile must have been very common in lower Egypt, to judge from the number of mummies preserved by the old Egyptians. Now it is practically extermi- nated, and there are scarcely any left below Wadi Hai
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. CROCODILIDAE 461 The Nile Crocodile is essentially African, ranging from the Senegal to the Cape and to Egypt. It is also very common in Madagascar. Nothing is known about its occurrence in Arabia, but a few specimens of rather small size seem still to exist in Syria, in the Wadi Zerka, an eastern tributary of the Jordan. Even in historical times the Crocodile must have been very common in lower Egypt, to judge from the number of mummies preserved by the old Egyptians. Now it is practically extermi- nated, and there are scarcely any left below Wadi Haifa. Such a conspicuous and dangerous creature has naturally always enjoyed notoriety. It is well described in one of the oldest writings of the world, the Book of Job. " Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook ? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down ? . . His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. . Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no ; Bows and arrows, spears and clubs, are of little avail against such a. Fig. 110.—Ventral view of a young Crocodilus niloticus, showing the arrangement of the bony scutes and the two openings of the nnisk-glands on the lower jaw. The upper right-hand figure shows on a larger scale the disposition of the nuchal scutes and the first row of dorsal Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Harmer, S. F. (Sidney Frederic), Sir, 1862-; Shipley, A. E. (Arthur Everett), Sir, 1861-1927. London : Macmillan and Co. ; New York : The Macmillan Company
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1895
