This is a species with a very narrow snout that is not quite so large as the preceding. It is said to be abundant in the Orinoco River and its tributaries. Besides the two above mentioned there is a small species, _C. rhombifera_, found only in Cuba and hence known as the Cuban crocodile. THE AFRICAN OR NILE CROCODILE, _C. niloticus_ This well known and much feared species is found throughout the continent of Africa, and is very common on the island of Madagascar (Fig. 11). In the lower waters of the Nile it is now nearly exterminated. It has always been a conspicuous animal in Egypt and was one of the animals held sacred by the Egyptians and preserved by them as mummies. It is discussed by Herodotus, and the “leviathan” mentioned in the Book of Job is doubtless this crocodile. In fact the name is said to be derived from the ancient Greek for lizard, just as the word alligator is said to be derived from the Spanish for lizard--_el lagarto_; the resemblance in form between these big saurians and their smaller relatives is evident. The alligator, being confined to America and a small part of Asia, was probably not known to the ancients. An excellent account of the development and habits of the present species is given by Voeltzkow (78), who says it is, perhaps, the most common vertebrate in Madagascar. The largest specimen measured by this observer was thirteen feet; Ditmars gives sixteen feet as the maximum size. This _man-eating_ crocodile, according to Ditmars, destroys more human lives than any other wild animal of the dark continent. The story told by Herodotus of the bird, probably a species of plover, which enters the gaping mouth of the crocodile to pick off the leeches found there may be true, since there is such a bird that may be seen perching on the backs of crocodiles, and as the Crocodilia frequently lie with their mouths wide open it is quite possible that these birds may pick off the worms that are often found within. It is also possible that the alertness of these birds to danger may serve as a warning to the crocodiles with which they associate. [Illustration: FIG. 12. SALT-WATER CROCODILE. (_Crocodilus porosus._) Distribution: India to North Australia. Occurs at sea. Grows to a length of twenty feet. (After Ditmars.) (Reproduced by Permission of Sturgis & Walton Co.)] According to Voeltzkow these crocodiles dig caves of thirty-nine to forty feet length in the banks of the streams they inhabit, into which they retire on the approach of danger. The caves open under water and slope upward towards the surface of the ground where a few small air-holes are found. The natives locate the caves by means of the air-holes and dig out the hidden animal, first stopping up the entrance.