Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 05.djvu/688

* CROCODILE. 594 CKOCODILE-BIRD. various kinds of Crooodilia loses its nij'stery," says Gadow, "when we recollect that during the Tc'rliary period alligators, crocodiles, and long- snouted gavials existed in Europe. The solitary species of alligator in China is the last living reminder of llieir former Periaretic distribution. The group, taken as a whole, is otherwise now iuteilropical, crocodiles alone inhabiting the Paleolro])ieal region, together with long-snouted 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 by Gadow (1902), both small and peculiar grou])s known only in late Mesozoic rocks. The genus .-Etosaurus represents the order Pscudosuchia. and Belodon the order Parasuchia. These and other Mesozoic crocodiles were marine, and .seem to have been descended from some terrestrial dinosaurian stock. ''So far as modern reptiles are concerned, only the Chelonia and Splienodon are related to the Croeodilia, while monitors and other lizards resemble them only superficially." . The crocodilians (Eustachia) fall into seven families; (1) Teleosauridse, fossil in the Lias and Oolite of Europe; marine, and of the general appearance of gavials. with very long and slender snouts (see Figure 1). (2) Metriorhynchida;, fossil in the Upper Oolite of Europe; marine. (3) MacrorhynchidiE, fossil in fresh-water de- posits of ealden. etc., of Europe. (4) Gaviali- diE, the gavials (see Gavial) fossil and recent. (5) Atopsauridse, fossil in the Upper Oolite of Erance; diminutive alligator-like reptiles only about a foot long. (6) Goniopholid;e, large fossil crocodiles of the late Mesozoic. (7) Crocodilida?, 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 Crocodilus vulgaris 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 Egj-pt. 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 Kile, other places were devoted to this primitive worship, while at neighboring towns, such as Den- derak. Apollinopolis, and Heracleopolis, it was detested. In the very earliest times the crocodile was regarded as a minister x>f 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, crocodiles are still dangerously plentiful. The reptiles also al)ound in Madagascar; but the 'common' one on the We.st Coast, from Senegal to the Conco, is Crocodilus cataphractus. Two species inhabit the fresh waters and estuaries of India (see Mugger), one ranging to Ceylon, and eastward to China, the Malay Islands, and Australia. A local species also inhabits northern Australia and Queensland. There are tliree crocodiles in North and South America and the West Indies. One {Crocodilus Americatius) 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 Gadow, Amphiiia and Reptiles (Lon- don and New York, 1902) ; and authorities on Eg'l)t, Central Africa, India, Ceylon, and Aus- tralasia. See ALLiG.vrOR. Fossil Fokiis. Fossil ancestors of the croco- dilians are known from rocks as old as those of the Triassic, and they are found throughout the later rocks of Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary time. The more primitive forms, comprising the totally extinct sub-order Parasucliia, are repre- sented by Belodon, from the upper Iveu])cr of Wiirttemberg and the Triassic sandstones of North America ; Stagonolepis of the Triassic of Scot- land, and Parasuchus from the Gondwana scries of central India. These three have long, narrow snouts, produced by the elongation of the pre- maxillary bones, and in the structure of their slculls they present some points of resemblance to the primitive dinosaurs and to the rh^,^lchoce- phaliaus. The Jlesosuchia of Jurassic age, mostly reptiles of small size, have both long and short snouted forms, that differ from the Eusuchia in respect of the form of the palate. Eustachian tubes, and vertebrte. The principal genera are Pelagosaurus, Metriorhjiiclius, Theriosuchus, Notosuchus, Teleosaurus, Stenosaurus, from the Jurassic of Europe. The Eusuchia, also with both broad and long-snouted species, range from the LTpper Jurassic through the Cretaceous and Tertiary, and comprise all the recent species, in which the Eustachian tubes are inclosed by bone and the verteljral centra are procoelous. Direct ancestors of the JIala3-an genus Tomistoma are found in the Miocene beds of the eastern Mediter- ranean region of south Europe. During the Eocene, typical gavials lived in the seas of Eng- land, but thej' migrated southward during subse- quent Tertiary time, and their remains are found fossilized in the Pliocene deposits of the Siwalik Hills of India. The largest known crocodile was probably the genus Rhamphosuchus, from the Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, India, with a length of over fifty feet. BiBLioGR.^PiiY. Parker, "On the Structure and Development of the Skull in the Crocodile," Zooloqical Society of London Transactions (Lon- don, isSo) ; Tornicr, "Die Crocodile," Bciheft sum Archiv fiir Xaturgeschichte (Berlin, 1901). For fossil forms, consult: DoUo, "Premifere note sur les Crocodiliens de Bernissart," Bulletin du llnsce royal d'histoire naturelle de Belgique, vol. ii. (Brussels. 1883) ; Woodward. Outlines of Ver- tebrate Paleontology for students of Zoology (Cambridge, 1898) ; Huxley, "On Stagonolepis and the Evolution of the Croeodilia." Quarterly Jourtwl of the Geological Society of London, vol. xx-xi. (London, 1875) ; Woodward, "The History of Fossil Crocodiles," Proceedings of the Geolo- gists' Association, vol. ix. (London, 1880). See also the articles on Alligator; Gavial ; Noto- suchus; Pelagosaurus; Teleosaurus; The- riosuchus. CROCODILE, Lady Kittt. A lady of fashion in Footers .1 Trip to Cuhiis. distinguished for her hypocritical dealings. The ch.nracter _was a satire directed against the Duchess of Kingston, who caused the withdrawal of the play. CROCODILE-BIRD. A plover {Plurianus JEgyptius) of the Nile Valley, sometimes placed among the coursers (genus Cursorius). It is re- markable for its association with the crocodile,