Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/498

 494 CROCKER CROCODILE Hungary, it suffered terribly from the Turkish invasions. In 1848-'9 the national hatred of the Croats against the Magyars made them one of the principal instruments of the Aus- trian government in crushing the Hungarian revolution. (See JELLACHICH.) Separated from Hungary in 1849, it was reunited with it in 1867-'8. (See HUNGAKY, SLAVONIA, MILI- TARY FRONTIER, and SERVIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.) CROCKER, a K central county of Iowa, bounded N. by Minnesota, and bordering on Winnebago, Kossuth, and Emmet counties; area, about 500 sq. m. It has been recently formed, and is not included in the census of 1870. The E. fork of the Des Moines intersects the S. "W. part. Capital, Greenwood Centre. CROCKETT, David, an American backwoods- man and member of congress, born at Lime- stone, on the Nolachucky river, in Tennessee, Aug. 17, 1786, died in Texas, March 6, 1836. His father, of Irish birth, after various other avocations, opened a tavern on the road from Abingdon to Knoxville, where David passed his youth from 7 to 12 years of age. He was sent to a country school, but on the fourth day quarrelled with the schoolmaster, and after playing truant for a time in the woods fled from home to avoid a flogging threatened both by his father and master. For five year^ he roamed about with drovers and carriers, till in his 18th year he returned home, attended school for two months, learning his letters for the first time, and soon after married and went to live in the wildest portions of the state, distinguish- ing himself as a hunter. In 1813 he served in the Creek war under Gen. Jackson, and after the peace settled on Shoal creek, in a desolate region of Tennessee. A community of reckless characters having flocked together, it was found necessary to establish a temporary government, and he was appointed one of the magistrates. He soon after became a candidate for the le- gislature, and made a successful electioneering tour by shooting at matches and telling amu- sing stories. He was twice reflected to the legislature, but devoted himself especially to bear hunting, till in 1827 he was elected by the party of Gen. Jackson a representative in congress. At Washington he obtained noto- riety by the eccentricity of his manners and language. In 1829 he was again chosen to congress, but soon after changed from a parti- san to an opponent of Jackson's administration ; and in 1831 it required his most strenuous ex- ertions to secure a reelection. Finding the in- fluence of Jackson irresistible in Tennessee, Crockett subsequently sought a new career in Texas, then in revolt against Mexico, and after a series of military exploits met his death while defending Fort Alamo, in San Antonio de Bexar. After a hard siege the survivors, six in number, including Crockett, surrendered, but by order of Santa Anna they were put to death. His autobiography was published at' Philadelphia in 1834. CROCODILE, a genus of reptiles which, with the alligator of America and the gavial of the Ganges, constitute the family of crocodilians. Some authors elevate the family into an order, the emydosauri of Gray, the loricata of Fitzin- ger, and the rhizodonta of Prince Bonaparte, the latter including the large fossil ichthyosau- rus and plesiosaurus. In the class of reptiles they are higher than the saurians, and second to the testudinata ; among them are included some of the largest, most powerful, and best protected of their class. The crocodilians, in- cluding the alligator and gavials, are charac- terized as follows : the skin is tough and thick, and protected by firm scales, of different shapes and sizes, forming a coat of mail sword- and bullet-proof; different species have been dis- tinguished according to their arrangement on the neck ; they are square on the upper and under surfaces of the body and on the tail, large and ridged longitudinally on the back, small and rounded on the sides of the body and neck and limbs ; on the head the skin is applied directly on the bone, following its eminences and depressions, and unprotected by scales, in this differing from the true saurians; the scales are thinnest below, and of a lighter color, al- most white, the upper tints being greenish with dark spots, or an obscure brown. Under the jaw, in the longitudinal folds of the skin, open the ducts of odoriferous glands, which secrete a viscid matter having a strong and disagree- able musky odor ; similar pores open near the cloaca. For the details of the skeleton the reader is referred to Cuvier, Meckel, Oken, and other writers on comparative anatomy. The vertebrae are concave anteriorly and convex posteriorly, and are 7 or 8 in the neck, 12 in the back, 5 in the loins, 2 in the sacral region, and from 34 to 42 in the tail ; the number is the same in individuals of a species at all pe- riods of life. The vertebras of the neck have long articulated transverse processes, or cer- vical ribs, which prevent any extensive lateral motion of the neck; on the under surface of the caudal vertebrse is a series of V-shaped bones, the hsemal arches, for the protection of the vessels. The ordinary ribs are 12 to 13 on each side. The sternum is prolonged even to the pelvis, and gives attachment to 6 or 7 pairs of cartilages, not extending to the spine ; these serve to strengthen and protect the ab- dominal walls, and are represented in man by the transverse lines of the rectus abdominis muscle; the sternum is also prolonged as a point in advance of the ribs ; there are no true clavicles, and the bones of the pelvis remain separate. The lower jaw is longer than the cranium, because the condyles of the temporal bones, corresponding to ossa quadrata, are placed considerably behind the articulation of the head with the spine, and are united to the skull as in the turtles ; the gape of the mouth is really longer than the extent of the head, from this backward situation of the glenoid cavity. The muscles which move the jaws