LESSON XXXVII.
THE ANCIENT MONSTER.
“The various terrors of that horrid shore,—Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray,And fiercely shed intolerable day;Those matted woods, where birds forget to sing,And silent bats in drowsy clusters cling;Those poisonous fields, rich with luxuriance crownedWhere the dark scorpion gathers death around.”
“The various terrors of that horrid shore,—Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray,And fiercely shed intolerable day;Those matted woods, where birds forget to sing,And silent bats in drowsy clusters cling;Those poisonous fields, rich with luxuriance crownedWhere the dark scorpion gathers death around.”
“The various terrors of that horrid shore,—Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray,And fiercely shed intolerable day;Those matted woods, where birds forget to sing,And silent bats in drowsy clusters cling;Those poisonous fields, rich with luxuriance crownedWhere the dark scorpion gathers death around.”
“The various terrors of that horrid shore,—
Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray,
And fiercely shed intolerable day;
Those matted woods, where birds forget to sing,
And silent bats in drowsy clusters cling;
Those poisonous fields, rich with luxuriance crowned
Where the dark scorpion gathers death around.”
—Goldsmith.
The word reptile seems to be in such bad repute, and to raise such disagreeable associations in the minds of many people, that in introducing a few specimens of the class reptilia we began, not by describing the characteristics of the class, but by introducing some of its most pleasing members—the lizards. Let us now turn for a little to the distinguishingfeatures of the class, and then to the animal which is its leading representative.
The class reptilia stands next to the class batrachia. Reptiles are cold-blooded, vertebrate animals, which breathe by the means of lungs. The form of the body is generally like that of the batrachians, between which and the birds, the reptiles find their place in nature. Thus the horned toad and the “horrid Moloch” are lizards,—reptiles which look very much more like toads than like their reptile brethren,—while the “frilled lizard” and the “flying dragon,” gayly colored tree-dwellers, are more suggestive of birds than of some other lizards.
The body of most reptiles performs the chief part in locomotion, moving with an undulatory action from side to side. The spinal column is therefore strong and stiff, and the tail is long, while the head and shoulders are comparatively small and narrow. Some of the reptiles, as the serpent tribe, have no feet, but the tortoise family have well-developed feet, and move by means of them, and not by serpentine undulations of the body. Most of the reptiles are voracious feeders, and are well provided with teeth. The skull is always depressed, with a small cavity for the brain, and the standard of reptilian intelligence is comparatively low.
No class varies more greatly in the size of its representatives. We find tiny chameleons and lizards but a very few inches long, and great crocodiles many feet in length. There are snakes no longer than one’s little finger, and boa-constrictors large enough to swallow a man or a cow. There arelittle turtles of the diameter of a twenty-five-cent piece, and huge turtles that weigh eight hundred pounds. When we name these species we are reminded what a wide variety there is in the families of the reptilian class.
There are four methods of securing safety, or life-preservation, known among the reptiles; the most common,—because the small creatures to which it pertains are happily the most numerous of their group—is imitation in form and color. We have noted this in the lizards. The second method is the wearing of natural armor, by the thickening of the skin or hide. Thus, in the serpents, the skin is often covered with scales; the scale-plate of crocodiles and alligators is generally bullet-proof; in the turtle family the body is protected by a hard, solid box of united plates neatly and closely put together. A third means of preservation is found in weapons of defence, as great teeth and huge, lashing tails, as in the crocodilia; or violent poison in fangs, as in many snakes. Lastly, the greater reptiles have often no weapon but their vast strength, as most of the boas; no creature desires to cope with them or go within reach of their mighty coils.
To make closer acquaintance with the most prominent and notable of all reptiles, we must go to the torrid zone. The hot breath of the desert smites us, as the sun’s rays are like fierce thrusts, the noon-day is scorching, still, breathless; the green of summer seems to have been burned away, as in a furnace blast. There, stretched his lazy length on the black ooze, beside the famous river of Africa, lying in the full glare of the sun, his little eyes sleepily shut, heedlessalike of the insects that cluster about him, and of the birds which dart down to carry them off, lies the monster that was in ancient times often worshipped as a god—the crocodile.
The crocodile gives his name to his order, crocodilia; which order, happily for human convenience, has but few representatives. The characteristics of this order are: aquatic habits, firmly planted teeth, skin thick and furnished with armor-plates, a long tail, four short legs, and feet with toes. The crocodile’s limbs are muscular and active, well articulated or put together, and end in fingers or toes, whichever we may choose to call them. The strong, bony plates are chiefly on the creature’s back. A peculiarity of the teeth is that they are cone or wedge shaped, and a pair on the lower jaw are much longer than the others, and fit into notches in the upper jaw when the mouth is closed. What is the use of these big teeth? It is to seize and hold firmly the prey of the monster, so that by no struggles can it escape when held by these cruel prongs.
The crocodilia are all inhabitants of hot countries, and are found in Asia, Africa, Australia, and tropical America. We chiefly associate them in our thoughts with the Nile and the Ganges rivers, where they particularly abound, and were once paid divine honors.
The gavial, or crocodile of India, often reaches twenty-five feet in length, and is the giant of its order.[70]It is distinguished from the true Nile crocodiles and the alligators by its very long and narrow snout, the jaws of which are set with fifty-fourteeth above and fifty-two below, presenting the appearance of a terrible pair of huge double saws. Each of these great cone-shaped teeth has beneath it, slowly growing for future use, two or three other teeth, which, as the tooth in use is worn out, grow up and displace it, and so continue the perfection of the entire set.
The shape of the nose or snout of the crocodile changes with its age; a young crocodile’s snout is depressed, and the animal cannot remain under water so long as an old one. The male gavials have a large, prominent swelling in front of the nostril.
Africa is the original home of the true crocodile, and there it has been feared and deified from remote antiquity. Pictures and sculptures of it are to be found on the oldest monuments. With the terror of the crocodile the African mothers frighten their children into obedience, and often in the end the crocodile gets both mother and child if they venture too near the water. In the Upper Nile region the beasts abound, and are seen lying basking in the sun, “placed side by side like rows of felled tree trunks,” says one traveller. They abound thus because the number of eggs deposited is enormous. No creature is more subject to enemies: men, turtles, and fish, besides wild animals, seek out and devour the crocodile eggs. As soon as the little monsters are hatched, fish, wild beasts, birds of prey, and the large male crocodiles wait to devour them. A baby crocodile has no friend or defender but its mother, and through all its life it is the foe of nearly every living thing, and consequently hated and attacked by everything that is capable of doing it injury.
The crocodiles are entirely carnivorous in their habits. They prefer putrid flesh to fresh, and thus they are valuable river scavengers, eating every carcass that appears. Travellers tell us that in attacking prey the crocodile prefers to give first a good blow with his tail, and so render the victim unconscious. Then he drags it under water and devours it; or, if not pressingly hungry, buries it in the mud until it partly decays. The monsters lie in wait at fords, or at the drinking places where cattle and wild beasts come at evening to drink. Then they seize the stooping prey and pull it under the water. Antelopes, cows, and human beings seem to be the crocodile’s favorite food. The creature is cowardly and will draw off if a person shows fight when it appears.
Owing to its habit of eating putrid flesh, the eyes, mouth, and throat of the crocodile are infested with swarms of large meat flies. The “Nile bird,” an agile and pretty insectivorous bird, follows the crocodile about, and, dashing even into his open jaws, picks off the flies. The brute seems to understand the good offices of the bird, and never snaps at it or closes his mouth upon it. Thus the Nile bird is the only friend of the crocodile, and the only living thing that does not fear him. The tongue of the crocodile is attached all round to the bottom of the mouth, and cannot be protruded. The neck is so formed with rib-like processes that it can be moved but little, so the giant reptile has no means of ridding itself of its persistent insignificant torments, the flies, and is at the mercy of the Nile bird’s appetite to get relief.
The mother crocodile lays her eggs in the sand, which she heaps over them, and leaves the sun to warm them into life.A recent traveller says that he took seventy-nine eggs from a crocodile’s place of deposit near the bank of an African river. There was no effort to make a nest, but the mother had chosen a spot a few paces from the bank of the river, and had made it clear of plants in a circle of several yards in diameter. To do this she had placed herself on the spot and wheeled her heavy body round a number of times, making the earth clear. Then she had laid down a few branches, as if to prevent the eggs from rolling away. Next she dug out four pits, each about two feet deep, obliquely set. The eggs were laid twenty or twenty-five each day, until a hundred had been placed in the pits, one pit being dug and filled before another was made.
After the eggs are laid the mother crocodile remains asleep near them a great part of the time, basking in the sun, and leaving the place of deposit only to go to the water and seek food. The egg-laying occurs but once a year, about the opening of January. It is two months before the young hatch out, and about the time they appear the rainy season sets in. As they come from the hatching place they take to the water by instinct, and there the mother is waiting to give them what defence she can, for the male adult crocodiles are ready to devour them, and wild beasts of various kinds make them a prey. The young crocodiles show their fierce disposition at once, fighting, biting, and making themselves generally disagreeable as soon as they get into the water.
FOOTNOTES:[70]Specimens even longer than this have been noted.
[70]Specimens even longer than this have been noted.
[70]Specimens even longer than this have been noted.