Chapter II: MODERN CONFESSIONS OF FAITH.--The second great creed-making epoch of (14)

_Austrian and French Supremacy: 1718-1814._--Austrian influence predominated throughout Croatia-Slavonia during most of the 18th century, although Slavonia was constitutionally regarded as belonging to Hungary. Despite Magyar protests the misleading name "Croatia" was popularly and even in official documents applied to the whole country, including the purely Slavonian provinces of Virovitica, Pozega and Syrmia. From 1767 to 1777 Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia were collectively named Illyria, and governed from Vienna, but each of these divisions was subsequently declared a separate kingdom, with a separate administration, while the military frontier remained under military rule. In 1776 the Croatian seaboard, which had previously been under the same administration as the rest of the Austrian coast, was annexed to Croatia, but three years later Fiume was declared an integral part of Hungary. These administrative changes, and especially the brief existence of united "Illyria," stimulated the dormant nationalism of the Croats and their jealousy of the Magyars. In 1809 Austria was forced to surrender to Napoleon a large part of Croatia, with Dalmatia, Istria, Carinthia, Carniola, Gorz and Gradisca. These territories received the name of the Illyrian Provinces, and remained under French rule until 1813. All the Croats capable of service were enrolled under the French flag; their country was divided for administrative purposes into _Croatie civile_ and _Croatie militaire_. In 1814 Dalmatia was incorporated in Austria, while Istria, Carinthia, Carniola, Gorz and Gradisca became the Illyrian kingdom of Austria, and retained their united government until 1849. Croatia and Slavonia were declared appanages of the Hungarian crown--_partes adnexae_, or subject provinces, according to the Magyars; _regna socia_, or allied kingdoms, according to their own view. Each phrase afterwards became the watchword of a political party: neither is accurate. The Croats preserved their local autonomy, the use of their language for official purposes, their elected diet and other ancient institutions, but Hungarian control was represented by the ban.

_The National Revival._--The Croats acquiesced in their position of inferiority until 1840, when the Magyars endeavoured to introduce Hungarian as the official language. A nationalist or "Illyrist" party was formed under Count Drackovic and Bishop J. Strossmayer (q.v.) to combat Hungarian influence and promote the union of the "Illyrian" Slavs, i.e. the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Ljudevit Gaj, the leading Croatian publicist, strongly supported the movement. The elections of 1842 were marked by a series of sanguinary conflicts between Illyrists and Magyarists, but not until 1848 were the Illyrists returned to office. One of their leaders, Baron Josef Jellachich, was appointed ban in 1848. He strongly advocated the union of Croatia with Carinthia, Carniola and Styria, but found his policy thwarted as much by the apathy of the Slovenes as by the hostility of the Magyars. A Croatian deputation was received at Innsbruck by Ferdinand V., but before its arrival the Hungarians had obtained a royal manifesto hostile to Illyrism. But failure only increased the agitation among the southern Slavs; all attempts at mediation proved unsuccessful, and on the 31st of August the Croats claimed to have convinced the king that justice was on their side. On the 11th of September the advance-guard of their army crossed the Drave under the command of Jellachich. On the 29th they were driven back from Pakozd by the Hungarians, and retired towards Vienna; they subsequently aided the Austrian army against the Hungarian revolutionaries (see JELLACHICH, JOSEF, and HUNGARY: _History_). The constitution of 1849 proclaimed Croatia and Slavonia separated from Hungary and united as a single Austrian crownland, to which was annexed the Croatian littoral, including Fiume. Austrian supremacy lasted until 1867; no ban was appointed, and owing to the suspension of local autonomy from 1850 to 1860 this period is known as "the ten years of reaction." It was ended by the celebrated "October Diploma" of the 20th of October 1860, which promised the restoration of constitutional liberty. But the so-called "Constitution of February" (21st February 1861) placed all practical power in the hands of an executive controlled by the government at Vienna. The newly elected diet was soon dissolved for its advocacy of a great South Slavonic confederation under imperial rule, and no other was elected until 1865.

From 1865 to 1867 Strossmayer and the nationalists endeavoured to secure the formation of a subordinate Austrian kingdom comprising Dalmatia, Croatia-Slavonia and the islands of the Quarnero. The Magyars had, however, resolved to subject Croatia-Slavonia to the crown of St Stephen, and in 1867 had secured control of the finances and electoral machinery. The office of ban was revived, and its holder, Baron Levin Rauch, was an ardent Magyarist. At the elections of December 1867 a majority of Hungarian partisans was easily obtained, and on the 29th of January the diet passed a resolution in favour of reunion with Hungary. The whole Opposition refused to take any part in the proceedings, as a protest against the alleged illegality of the elections; but by the 25th of June the Croatian commissioners and the Hungarian government had framed a new constitution, which was ratified in September. Besides substituting Hungarian for Austrian sovereignty, it provided that the diet and the ban should control local affairs, subject to the Croatian minister in the Hungarian cabinet, and that Croatia-Slavonia should pay 55% of its revenue to Hungary for mutual and imperial expenses, but should be represented in the Hungarian parliament by thirty-six delegates, and should continue to use Serbo-Croatian as the official language. Hungary guaranteed that the 45% retained by the territorial government should be not less than two and a half million gulden (L250,000). In May 1870 Fiume was annexed to Hungary, but in 1873 the Croats received as compensation an increase of their guaranteed revenue to L350,000, an addition of seven to the number of their representatives at Budapest, and a promise that the military frontier should be incorporated in the existing civil provinces. In 1877 a convention with Hungary regulated the control of public estates in the military frontier, and on the 15th of July 1881 the frontier, including the district of Sichelburg claimed by Carniola, was handed over to the local administration.

Meanwhile the events of 1875-1878 in the Balkans, culminating in the Austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, revived the agitation for a "Great Croatia." A party separate from the regular Opposition, and known as the "Party of the Right," was formed to oppose the Magyarists. Its activity resulted in the riots of 1883, which were with difficulty quelled; in 1885 its leader, N. Starcevic, was condemned to imprisonment for the violence of his speeches against the ban, Count Khuen-Hedervary. In 1888 the moderate Opposition also lost its leader, Bishop Strossmayer, who was censured by the king on account of his famous Panslavist telegram to the Russian Church (see STROSSMAYER). In 1889 the financial agreement with Hungary was revised and the contribution of Croatia-Slavonia to the expenses shared with Hungary or common to the whole of the Dual Monarchy was raised by 1%. This added burden combined with bad harvests, a fall in the revenue and a deficit in the budget to heighten popular discontent. Count Khuen-Hedervary was responsible for several administrative improvements, but the prosperity of the country declined from year to year. The government was accused of illegal interference with the elections, with the use of the Hungarian arms and language in official documents, and with undue harshness in the censorship of the press. In May 1903 there were outbreaks of rioting in Agram, Sissek and other towns, besides serious agrarian disturbances directed against the Magyarist landowners; in a debate in the Reichsrath (18th May) an Austrian deputy named Bianchini unsuccessfully attempted to induce the imperial government to intervene. At the end of June Count Khuen-Hedervary was made Hungarian prime minister; Count T. Pejacevic succeeded him as ban, and restored quiet by promising freedom of assembly and greater liberty of the press. Since 1898 the financial agreement had only been renewed from year to year. But the estimates for 1904 revealed another heavy deficit; and this was only paid by Hungary on condition that the agreement should be renewed until the 31st of December 1913, and the contribution of 56% maintained.

The constitutional crisis of 1905 in Hungary stimulated the nationalist agitation. A congress of Croatian and Dalmatian deputies met at Spalato to advocate Serbo-Croatian unity, and in 1906 the municipality of Agram endeavoured to petition the king in favour of union with Bosnia and Herzegovina. This propaganda was severely discouraged. Baron Rauch, appointed ban in 1908, refused to summon the diet, in which he could not command a single vote, and much excitement was caused in 1909 by the trial of 57 nationalist leaders for high treason. The policy of the nationalists, who now aimed at the political union, under the king-emperor, of all Serbo-Croats in Austria-Hungary--upwards of 4,500,000--was less visionary than the older Illyrism, and less aggressively Panslavist. It no longer sought to include Carinthia, Carniola and Styria in the proposed "Great Croatia." It was opposed by Austria as tending to create a new and formidable Slavonic nation within the Dual Monarchy, and by Hungary as a menace to Magyar predominance in Transleithania.

_Language and Literature._

For the place of the Croatian dialects among Slavonic languages generally, see SLAVS. The Croatian dialects, like the Servian, have gradually developed from the Old Slavonic, which survives in medieval liturgies and biblical or apocryphal writings. The course of this development was similar in both cases, except that the Croats, owing to their dependence on Austria-Hungary, were not so deeply influenced as the Serbs by Byzantine culture in the middle ages, and by Russian linguistic forms and Russian ideas in modern times. The Orthodox Serbs, moreover, use a modified form of the Cyrillic alphabet, while the Roman Catholic Croats use Latin characters, except in a few liturgical books which are written in the ancient Glagolitic script. As the literary language of both nations is now practically the same, and is, indeed, commonly known as "Serbo-Croatian," the reader may be referred to the article SERVIA: _Language and Literature_, for an account of its history, of its chief literary monuments up to the 19th century and inclusive of Dalmatian literature, and of the principal differences between the dialects spoken in Servia and Croatia-Slavonia.

The three most important Croatian dialects are known as the _Cakavci_, _Cakavctina_ or, in Servian, _Chakavski_, spoken along the Adriatic littoral; the _Stokavci_ (_Stokavctina_, _Shtokavski_), spoken in Servia and elsewhere in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula; and the _Kajkavci_ (_Kajkavctina_, _Kaykavski_), spoken by the partly Slovene population of the districts of Agram, Warasdin and Kreuz. This classification is based on the form, varying in different localities, of the pronoun _ca_, _cto_, or _kaj_, meaning "what."

The Cakavci literature includes most of the works of the Dalmatian writers of the 15th and 16th centuries--the golden age of Serbo-Croatian literature. Its history is indissolubly interwoven with that of the Stokavci, which ultimately superseded it, and became the literary language of all the Serbo-Croats, as it had long been the language of the best national ballads and legends.

Kajkavci had from about 1550 to 1830 a distinctive literature, consisting of chronicles and histories, poems of a religious or educational character, fables and moral tales. These writings possess more philological interest than literary merit, and are hardly known outside Croatia-Slavonia and the Slovene districts of Austria.

Apart from the Kajkavci dialect, the whole body of Serbo-Croatian literature up to the 19th century may justly be regarded as the common heritage of Serbs and Croats. The linguistic and literary reforms which Dossitey Obradovich and Vuk Stefanovich Karajich carried out in Servia about the close of this period helped to stimulate among the Croats a new interest in their national history, their traditions, folk-songs and folk-tales. One result of this nationalist revival was the unsuccessful attempt made between 1814 and 1830 to raise the Cakavci dialect to the rank of a distinctive literary language for Croatia-Slavonia; but the Illyrist movement of 1840 led to the adoption of the Stokavci, which was already the vernacular of the majority of Serbo-Croats. Ljudevit Gaj (1809-1872), though he failed to create an artificial literary language by the fusion of the principal dialects spoken by Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was by his championship of Illyrism instrumental in securing the triumph of the Stokavci. Gaj was a poet of considerable talent, and one of the founders of Croatian journalism. Among other writers of the first half of the 19th century may be mentioned Ivan Mazuranic (1813-1890), whose first poems were published in the _Danica ilirska_ ("Illyrian Dawnstar"), a journal founded and for a time edited by Gaj. In 1846 Mazuranic published his _Smrt Smail Aga Cengica_ ("Death of Ismail Aga Cengic"), called by Serbo-Croats the "Epos of Hate." This remarkable poem, written in the metre of the old Servian ballads, gives a vivid description of life in Bosnia under Turkish rule, and of the hereditary border feuds between Christians and Moslems. In later life Mazuranic distinguished himself as a statesman, and became ban of Croatia from 1873 to 1880. Other writers representative of Croatian literature before 1867 were the lyric poet Stanko Vraz (1810-1851) and Dragutin Rakovac (1813-1854), the author of many patriotic songs.

With the foundation of the South Slavonic Academy at Agram, in 1867, the study of science and history received a new impetus. Under the presidency of Franko Racki (1825-1894) the academy, with its journal the _Rad jugoskovenske Akademije_, became the headquarters of an active group of savants, among whom may be mentioned Vastroslav Jagic (b. 1838), sometime editor of the _Archiv fur slavische Philologie_; the historians Sime Ljubic (1822-1896) and Vjekoslav Klaic, author of several standard works on Croatia and the Croats; the lexicographer Bogoslav Sulek (1816-1895); the ethnographer and philologist Franko Karelac (1811-1874). In Dalmatia, where the Ragusan journal _Slovinac_ has served, like the Agram _Rad_, as a focus of literary activity, there have been numerous poets and prose writers, associated, in many cases, with the Illyrist or the nationalist propaganda. Among these may be mentioned Count Medo Pucic (1821-1882), and the dramatist Matija Ban (1818-1903), whose tragedy _Meyrimah_ is considered by many the finest dramatic poem in the Serbo-Croatian language.

AUTHORITIES.--For the topography, products, inhabitants and modern
condition of Croatia-Slavonia, see _Bau und Bild Osterreichs_, by C.
Diener, F. E. Suess, R. Hoernes and V. Uhlig (Leipzig, 1903); _Die
osterreich-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild_, vol. xxiv., edited
by J. von Weilen (Vienna, 1902); _Fuhrer durch Ungarn, Kroatien und
Slawonien_, by B. Alfoldi (Vienna, 1900); _Reisefuhrer durch Kroatien
und Slawonien_, by A. Lukcic (Agram, 1893);
_Vegetationsverhaltnisse von Kroatien_, by A. Neilreich (Vienna,
1868); "Die Slowenen," by J. Suman, and "Die Kroaten," by F. Stare,
in vol. x. of _Die Volker Osterreich-Ungarns_ (Vienna, 1881-1882);
_Die Serbokroaten der adriatischen Kustenlander_, by A. Weisbach
(Berlin, 1884); and the map _Zemljovid Hrvatske i Slavonije_, by M.
Katzenschlager (Vienna, 1895). The only detailed history is one in
Serbo-Croatian, written by a succession of the highest native
authorities, and published by the South Slavonic Academy (Agram, from
1861). It is largely based on the following works: _Vetera monumenta
historica Hungariam sacram illustrantia_, containing documents from
the Vatican library edited by A. Theiner (Rome, 1860); _Vetera
monumenta historiam Slavorum meridionalium illustrantia_, published by
the South Slavonic Academy (Agram, 1863, &c.); _Jura regni Croatiae,
Dalmatiae, et Slavoniae cum privilegiis_, by J. Kukuljevic (Agram,
1861-1862); _Monumenta historica Slavorum meridionalium_, by V.
Makushev, in Latin and Italian, with notes in Slavonic (Belgrade,
1885); _De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae_, by G. Lucio (Amsterdam, 1666;
see DALMATIA, under bibliography); _Regno degli Slavi_, by M. Orbini
(Pesaro, 1601); and, for ecclesiastical history, _Illyricum sacrum_,
by D. Farlatus and others (Venice, 1751-1819). See also _Hrvatska i
Hrvati_, by V. Klaic (Agram, 1890, &c.); and _Slawonien vom 10. bis
zum 13. Jahrhundert_, translated from the Serbo-Croatian of Klaic
by J. von Vojnicic (Agram, 1882). (K. G. J.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Also written _Sirmia_ and _Sirmium_; Serbo-Croatian _Sriem_;
Hungarian _Szerem_.

[2] It is impossible to exclude Fiume from any survey of Croatian
trade, although Fiume belongs politically to Hungary proper, and is
the main outlet for Hungarian emigration and maritime commerce.

[3] It is important to notice the value of the following letters and
signs, which recur frequently:--c = ts; c = ch (hard); c = _ch_
(soft); j = y, or j in German; c = sh; z = zh, or j in French.

CROCIDOLITE, a mineral described in 1815 by M. H. Klaproth under the name _Blaueisenstein_ (blue ironstone), and in 1831 by J. F. Hausmann, who gave it its present name on account of its nap-like appearance (Gr. [Greek: krokus], nap of cloth). It is a blue fibrous mineral belonging to the amphibole group and closely related to riebeckite; chemically it is an iron sodium silicate. Its resemblance to asbestos has gained for it the name Cape Asbestos, the chief occurrence being in Cape Colony. The mineral suffers alteration by removal of alkali and peroxidation of the ferrous iron, and further by deposition of silica between the fibres, or by their replacement by silica; a hard siliceous mineral is thus formed which when polished shows, in consequence of its fibrous structure, a beautiful chatoyance or silky lustre. This is the ornamental stone which is known when blue as "hawk's-eye," and when of rich golden brown colour as "tiger-eye." The latter, which represents the final alteration of the crocidolite, has become very fashionable as "South African cat's eye," and is often termed "crocidolite," though practically only a mixture of quartz with brown oxide of iron. The following are analyses by A. Renard and C. Klement of the unaltered crocidolite and of the blue and brown products of alteration:--

+---------------+--------------+-------------+------------+
| | Crocidolite. | Hawk's-eye. | Tiger-eye. |
| +--------------+-------------+------------+
| Silica | 51.89 | 93.45 | 93.05 |
| Ferric oxide | 19.22 | 2.41 | 4.94 |
| Alumina | .. | 0.23 | 0.66 |
| Ferrous oxide | 17.53 | 1.43 | .. |
| Magnesia | 2.43 | 0.22 | 0.26 |
| Lime | 0.40 | 0.13 | 0.44 |
| Soda | 7.71 | .. | .. |
| Potash | 0.15 | .. | .. |
| Water | 2.36 | 0.82 | 0.76 |
| +--------------+-------------+------------+
| Total | 101.69 | 98.69 | 100.11 |
+---------------+--------------+-------------+------------+

Another alteration product of the crocidolite, consisting of silica and ferric hydrate, has been called griqualandite. Crocidolite and the minerals resulting from its alteration occur in seams, associated with magnetite and other iron-ores, in the jasper-slates of the Asbestos Mountains in Griqualand West, Cape Colony. It is known also from a few other localities, but only in subordinate quantity. (See CAT'S-EYE.)

CROCKET (Ital. _uncinetti_, Fr. _crochet_, _crosse_, Ger. _Haklein_, _Knollen_), in architecture, an ornament running up the sides of gablets, hood-moulds, pinnacles, spires; generally a winding stem like a creeping plant, with flowers or leaves projecting at intervals, and terminating in a finial.

CROCKETT, DAVID (1786-1836), American frontiersman, was born in Greene county, Tennessee, on the 17th of August 1786. His education was obtained chiefly in the rough school of experience in the Tennessee backwoods, where he acquired a wide reputation as a hunter, trapper and marksman. In 1813-1814 he served in the Creek War under Andrew Jackson, and subsequently became a colonel in the Tennessee militia. In 1821-1824 he was a member of the state legislature, having won his election not by political speeches but by telling stories. In 1827 he was elected to the national House of Representatives as a Jackson Democrat, and was re-elected in 1829. At Washington his shrewdness, eccentric manners and peculiar wit made him a conspicuous figure, but he was too independent to be a supporter of all Jackson's measures, and his opposition to the president's Indian policy led to administration influences being turned against him with the result that he was defeated for re-election in 1831. He was again elected in 1833, but in 1835 lost his seat a second time, being then a vigorous opponent of many distinctively Jacksonian measures. Discouraged and disgusted, he left his native state, and emigrated to Texas, then engaged in its struggle for independence. There he lost his life as one of the defenders of the Alamo at San Antonio on the 6th of March 1836.

A so-called "autobiography," which he very probably dictated or at
least authorized, was published in Philadelphia in 1834; a work
purporting to be a continuation of this autobiography and entitled
_Colonel Crockett's Exploits and Adventures in Texas_ (Philadelphia,
1836) is undoubtedly spurious. These two works were subsequently
combined in a single volume, of which there have been several
editions. Numerous popular biographies have been written, the best by
E. S. Ellis (Philadelphia, 1884).

CROCKETT, SAMUEL RUTHERFORD (1860- ), Scottish novelist, was born at Duchrae, Galloway, on the 24th of September 1860, the son of a Galloway farmer. He was brought up on a Galloway farm, and graduated from Edinburgh University in 1879. After some years of travel he became in 1886 minister of Penicuik, but eventually abandoned the Free Church ministry for novel-writing. The success of Mr J. M. Barrie had created a demand for stories in the Scottish dialect when Mr Crockett published his successful story of _The Stickit Minister_ in 1893. It was followed by a rapidly produced series of popular novels dealing often with the past history of Scotland, or with his native Galloway. Such are _The Raiders_, _The Lilac Sun-bonnet_ and _Mad Sir Uchtred_ in 1894; _The Men of the Moss Hags_ in 1895; _Cleg Kelly_ and _The Grey Man_ in 1896; _The Surprising Adventures of Sir Toady Lion_ (1897); _The Red Axe_ (1898); _Kit Kennedy_ (1899); _Joan of the Sword Hand_ and _Little Anna Mark_ in 1900; _Flower o' the Corn_ (1902); _Red Cap Tales_ (1904), &c.

CROCKFORD, WILLIAM (1775-1844), proprietor of Crockford's Club, was born in London in 1775, the son of a fishmonger, and for some time himself carried on that business. After winning a large sum of money--according to one story L100,000--either at cards or by running a gambling establishment, he built, in 1827, a luxurious gambling house at 50 St James's Street, which, to ensure exclusiveness, he organized as a club. Crockford's quickly became the rage; every English social celebrity and every distinguished foreigner visiting London hastened to become a member. Even the duke of Wellington joined, though, it is averred, only in order to be able to blackball his son, Lord Douro, should he seek election. Hazard was the favourite game, and very large sums changed hands. Crockford retired in 1840, when, in the expressive language of Captain R. H. Gronow, he had "won the whole of the ready money of the then existing generation." He took, indeed, about L1,200,000 out of the club, but subsequently lost most of it in unlucky speculations. Crockford died on the 24th of May 1844.

See John Timbs, _Club Life of London_ (London, 1866); Gronow,
_Celebrities of London and Paris_, 3rd series (London, 1865).

CROCODILE, a name for certain reptiles, taken from ancient Gr. [Greek: kordylos], signifying lizard and newt; with reduplication [Greek: korkordylos], and by metathesis ultimately [Greek: krokodeilos]. Herodotus makes mention of them, and tells us that the Egyptian name was _champsa_. The Arabic term is _ledschun_. The same root _kar_ leads through something like _kar-kar-ta_, _glakarta_ (_glazard_ in Breton), to _lacerta_ and to "lizard." Lacerta in turn has become, in Spanish, _lagarto_, which, with the article, _el lagarto_, is the origin of the term "alligator." This word is, however, artificial, although now widely used; Spanish and Portuguese-speaking people in America universally call the crocodile and the alligator simply _lagarto_, which is never intended for lizard.

The Crocodilia form a separate order of reptiles with many peculiarities. The premaxillae are short and always enclose the nostrils. The posterior nares or choanae open far behind in the roof of the mouth, in recent forms within the pterygoids. The under jaws are hinged on to the quadrate bones, which extend obliquely backwards, and are immovably wedged in between the squamosal and the lateral occipital wings. The teeth form a complete series in the under jaw, and in the upper jaw on the premaxillary and maxillary bones. They are conical and deeply implanted in separate sockets. They are often shed throughout life, the successors lying on the inner side, and with their caps partly fitting into the wide open roots of the older teeth. Especially in alligators the upper teeth overlap laterally those of the lower jaw, whilst in most crocodiles the overlapping is less marked and the teeth mostly interlock, a feature which increases with the slenderness of the snout. In old specimens some of the longer, lower teeth work their tips into deep pits, and ultimately even perforate the corresponding parts of the upper jaw. The first and second vertebrae each have a pair of long, movable ribs. There is a compound abdominal sternum. The so-called pubic bones are large and movable. There are five fingers and four toes, provided with claws, excepting the outer digits.

The tongue is flat and thick, attached by its whole under surface; its hinder margin is raised into a transverse fold, which, by meeting a similar fold from the palate, can shut off the mouth completely from the wide cavity of the throat. Dorsally the posterior nares open into this cavity. Consequently the beast can lie submerged in the water, with only the nostrils exposed, and with the mouth open, and breathe without water entering the windpipe. Within the glottis is a pair of membranous folds which serve as vocal cords; all the Crocodilia are possessed of a loud, bellowing voice.

The stomach is globular, rather muscular, with a pair of tendinous centres like those of birds; its size is comparatively small, but the digestion is so rapid and powerful that every bone of the creature's prey is dissolved whilst still being stowed away in the wide and long gullet. The anal opening forms a longitudinal slit; within it, arising from its anterior corner, is the unpaired copulatory organ. The vascular system has attained the highest state of development of all reptiles. The heart is practically quadrilocular, the right and left halves being completely partitioned, except for a small communication, the _foramen Panizzae_, between the right and left aortae where these cross each other on leaving their respective ventricles. The outer ear lies in a recess which can be closed tightly by a dorsal flap of skin. The power of hearing is acute, and so is the sight, the eyes being protected by upper and lower lids and by a nictitating membrane. The skin of the whole body is scaly, with a hard, horny, waterproof covering of the epidermis, but between these mostly flat scales the skin is soft. The scutes or dermal portions of the scales are more or less ossified, especially on the back, and form the characteristic dermal armour. The skins or "hides" of commerce consist entirely of the tanned cutis minus, the epidermis and the horny coverings of the scutes. All the Crocodilia possess two pairs of musk-glands in the skin; one is situated on the inner side of the lower jaw. The opening of the glands is slit-like and leads into a pocket, which is filled with a smeary, strongly scented matter. The other pair lies just within the lips of the cloacal opening.

Propagation takes place by eggs, which are oval, quite white, with a very hard and strong shell. Their size varies from 2 to 4 in. in length, according to the size of the species and the age of the female. She lays several dozen eggs in a carefully prepared nest. The Nile crocodile makes a hole in white sand, which is then filled up and smoothed over; the mother sleeps upon the nest, and keeps watch over her eggs, and when these are near hatching--after about twelve weeks--she removes the 18 in. or 2 ft. of sand. Other species, especially the alligators, make a very large nest of leaves, twigs and humus, scraping together a mound about a yard high and two or more yards in diameter. The eggs, in several layers, are laid near the top. The adults frequently dig long subterranean passages into the banks of streams, and, during dry seasons, they have been found deep in the hardened mud, whence they emerge with the beginning of the rains. They spend most of their time in the water, but are also very fond of basking in the hot sun on the banks of rivers or in marshes, usually with the head turned towards the water, to which they take on the slightest alarm. They can walk perfectly well, and they do so deliberately with the whole body raised a little above the ground. When their pools dry up, or when in search of new hunting-grounds, they sometimes undertake long wanderings over land. But the water is their true element. They swim rapidly, propelled by the powerful tail and by the mostly webbed limbs, or they submerge themselves, with only the tip of the nose and the eyes showing, or sometimes also the back. They then look like floating logs; and thus they float or gently approach their prey, which consists of anything they can overpower. Many a large mammal coming to drink at its accustomed place is dragged into the water by the lurking monster. Certainly there are occasional man-eaters amongst them, and in some countries they are much feared. As a rule, however, they are so wary and suspicious that they are very difficult to approach, and their haunts are so well stocked with fish and other game that they make off and hide rather than attack a man swimming in their waters. But if a dog is sent in there will be a sudden yelp, the splash from a big tail, and a widening eddy.

Crocodile stories, not all fabulous, are plentiful, and begin with one of the oldest writings in the world, the book of Job. "Canst thou draw leviathan with a hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?... Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more." This is a very interesting passage, since it can apply only to a large-sized crocodile. Now nothing is known of the occurrence of such in Arabia, but a few specimens of rather small size seem still to exist in Syria, in the Wadi Zerka, an eastern tributary of the Jordan.

Crocodiles are caught in various ways,--for instance, with two pointed sticks, which are fastened crosswise within the bait, an animal's entrails, to which is attached a rope. When the creature has swallowed the spiked bait it keeps its jaws so firmly closed that it can be dragged out of the water. A kind of plover, _Pluvianus aegyptius_, often sits upon basking crocodiles, and, since the latter often rest with gaping mouth, it is possible that these agile birds do pick the reptiles' teeth in search of parasites. Being a very watchful bird, its cry of warning, when it flies off on the approach of danger, is probably appreciated by the crocodile. But the story of the ichneumon or mongoose is a fable. Although an inveterate destroyer of eggs, this little creature prefers those of birds and the soft-shelled eggs of lizards to the very hard and strong-shelled eggs which are deeply buried in the crocodile's nest.

Considering the interest which is taken in crocodiles and their
allies, on account of their size, their dangerous nature and the
sporting trophies which they yield, the following "key," based upon
easily ascertained characters of the skull, is given.

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 bon 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 rica.

(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. (H. F. G.)