Page:EB1911 - Volume 07.djvu/501

 I. Snout very long and slender. The mandibular symphysis extends backwards at least to the fifteenth tooth. (a) Nasal bones very small, and widely separated from the premaxilla (which encloses the nostrils) by the maxillaries which join each other for a long distance along the dorsal mid-line.... Gavialis gangeticus of India, the “gharial” or fish-eater.

(b) Nasal bones long, so as to be in contact with the premaxilla at the hinder corner of the nostril groove.... Tomistoma schlegeli of Borneo, Malacca and Sumatra.

II. Snout mostly triangular or rounded off. The mandibular symphysis does not reach beyond the eighth tooth. (a), The fourth mandibular tooth fits into a notch in the upper jaw. Crocodiles.

1. Without a bony nasal septum between the nostrils.... Crocodiles. 2. The nasal bones project through the nasal groove, forming a bony septum. Osteolaemus frontatus s. tetraspis of West Africa. (b) Fourth mandibular tooth fitting into a pit in the upper jaw. Alligators. 1. Without a bony nasal septum.... Caiman, Central and South America. 2. Nasal bones dividing the nasal groove.... Alligator, America and China.

The genus Cracodilus contains seven species. C. vulgaris or niloticus of most of Africa, is found from the Senegal to Egypt and to Madagascar, reaching a length of 15 ft. It has eighteen or nineteen upper and fifteen lower teeth on each side. C. palustris, the “mugger” or “marsh crocodile” of India and Ceylon, extends westwards into Baluchistan, eastwards into the Malay islands. It has nineteen upper and lower teeth on either side. The scutes on the neck, six in number, are packed closely together, the four biggest forming a square. The length of 12 ft. is a fair size for a large specimen. C. porosus or biporcatus is easily recognised by the prominent longitudinal ridge which extends in front of each eye. Specimens of more than 20 ft. in length are not uncommon, and a monster of 33 ft. is on record. It is essentially an inhabitant of tidal waters and estuaries, and often goes out to sea; hence its wide distribution, from the whole coast of Bengal to southern China, to the northern coasts of Australia and even to the Fiji islands. Australians are in the habit of calling their crocodiles alligators. C. cataphractus is the common crocodile of West Africa, easily recognised by the slender snout which resembles that of the gavial, but the mandibular symphysis does not reach beyond the eighth tooth. C. johnstoni of northern Australia and Queensland is allied to the last species mentioned, with which it agrees by the slender snout. Lastly there are two species of true crocodiles in America, C. intermedius of the Orinoco, allied to the former, and C. americanus or acutus of the West Indies, Mexico, Central America to Venezuela and Ecuador; its characteristic feature is a median ridge or swelling on the snout, which is rather slender.

The above list shows that the usual statement that crocodiles inhabit the Old World and alligators the New World is not strictly true. In the Tertiary epoch alligators, crocodiles and long-snouted gavials existed in Europe.

CROCOITE, a mineral consisting of lead chromate, PbCrO4, and crystallizing in the monoclinic system. It is sometimes used as a paint, being identical in composition with the artificial product chrome-yellow; it is the only chromate of any importance found in nature. It was discovered at Berezovsk near Ekaterinburg in the Urals in 1766; and named crocoise by F. S. Beudant in 1832, from the Greek , saffron, in allusion to its colour, a name first altered to crocoisite and afterwards to crocoite. It is found as well-developed crystals of a bright hyacinth-red colour, which are translucent and have an adamantine to vitreous lustre. On exposure to light much of the translucency and brilliancy is lost. The streak is orange-yellow; hardness 2½-3; specific gravity 6.0. In the Urals the crystals are found in quartz-veins traversing granite or gneiss: other localities which have yielded good crystallized specimens are Congonhas do Campo near Ouro Preto in Brazil, Luzon in the Philippines, and Umtali in Mashonaland. Gold is often found associated with this mineral. Crystals far surpassing in beauty any previously known have been found in the Adelaide Mine at Dundas, Tasmania; they are long slender prisms, 3 or 4 in. in length, with a brilliant lustre and colour.

Associated with crocoite at Berezovsk are the closely allied minerals phoenicochroite and vauquelinite. The former is a basic lead chromate, Pb3Cr2O9, and the latter a lead and copper phosphate-chromate, 2(Pb, Cu)CrO4. (Pb, Cu)3(PO4)2. Vauquelinite forms brown or green monoclinic crystals, and was named after L. N. Vauquelin, who in 1797 discovered (simultaneously with and independently of M. H. Klaproth) the element chromium in crocoite.

 CROCUS, a botanical genus of the natural order Iridaceae, containing about 70 species, natives of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia, and especially developed in the dry country of south-eastern Europe and western and central Asia. The plants are admirably adapted for climates in which a season favourable to growth alternates with a hot or dry season; during the latter they remain dormant beneath the ground in the form of a short thickened stem protected by the scaly remains of the bases of last season’s leaves (known botanically as a “corm”). At the beginning of the new season of growth, new flower- and leaf-bearing shoots are developed from the corm at the expense of the food-stuff stored within it. New corms are produced at the end of the season, and by these the plant is multiplied.

These crocuses of the flower garden are mostly horticultural varieties of C. vernus, C. versicolor and C. aureus (Dutch crocus), the two former yielding the white, purple and striped, and the latter the yellow varieties. The crocus succeeds in any fairly good garden soil, and is usually planted near the edges of beds or borders in the flower garden, or in broadish patches at intervals along the mixed borders. The corms should be planted 3 in. below the surface, and as they become crowded they should be taken up and replanted with a refreshment of the soil, at least every five or six years. Crocuses have also a pleasing effect when dotted about on the lawns and grassy banks of the pleasure ground.

Some of the best of the varieties are:—Purple: David Rizzio, Sir J. Franklin, purpureus grandiflorus. Striped: Albion, La Majestueuse, Sir Walter Scott, Cloth of Silver, Mme Mina. White: Caroline Chisholm, Mont Blanc. Yellow: Large Dutch.

The species of crocus are not very readily obtainable, but those who make a specialty of hardy bulbs ought certainly to search them out and grow them. They require the same culture as the more familiar garden varieties; but, as some of them are apt to suffer from excess of moisture, it is advisable to plant them in prepared soil in a raised pit, where they are brought nearer to the eye, and where they can be sheltered when necessary by glazed sashes, which, however, should not be closed except when the plants are at rest, or during inclement weather in order to protect the blossoms, especially in the case of winter flowering species. The autumn blooming kinds include many plants of very great beauty. The following species are recommended:—

Spring flowering:—Yellow: C. aureus, aureus var. sulphureus, chrysanthus, Olivieri, Korolkowi, Balansae, ancyrensis, Susianus, stellaris. Lilac: C. Imperati, Sieberi, etruscus, vernus, Tomasinianus, banaticus. White: C. biflorus and vars., candidus, vernus vars. Striped: C. versicolor, reticulatus.

Autumn flowering:—Yellow: C. Scharojani. Lilac: C. asluricus, cancellatus var., cilicicus, byzantinus (iridiflorus), longiflorus, medius, nudiflorus, pulchellus, Salzmanni, sativus vars. speciosus, zonatus. White: caspius, cancellatus, hadrialicus, marathonisius.

Winter flowering:—C. hyemaeis, laevigatus, vitellinus.

 CROESUS, last king of Lydia, of the Mermnad dynasty, (560–546 ), succeeded his father Alyattes after a war with his half-brother. He completed the conquest of Ionia by capturing Ephesus, Miletus and other places, and extended the Lydian empire as far as the Halys. His wealth, due to trade, was proverbial, and he used part of it in securing alliances with the Greek states whose fleets might supplement his own army. Various legends were told about him by the Greeks, one of the most famous being that of Solon’s visit to him with the lesson 