[1758] This account was first given by Herodotus, ubi supra; and, from the form of the head and the neighbouring parts, depicts what would naturally occur to the observer; but it is not correct. The actual state of the parts, and their connection with each other, as Cuvier informs us, were first satisfactorily explained by Geoffroi Saint Hilaire.—B.
[1759] Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. v. c. 52, observes, that this is the case with the tortoise, and similar animals.—B.
[1760] Cuvier says, that when it leaves the egg, the young animal is only six inches long, and that it ultimately attains a size of from thirty to forty feet.—B.
[1761] Herodotus says, that it remains all night in the water, as being warmer than the external air. So also Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 10.—B.
[1762] The water of the Nile abounds with small leeches, which attach to the throat of the crocodile, and, as it has no means of removing them, it allows a little bird to enter its mouth for this purpose; this is described by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6, and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 2.—B.
[1763] Although this account is sanctioned by all the ancient naturalists, it is called in question by Cuvier; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 441; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 421.—B.
[1764] There is a small lizard, called by the modern naturalists the Lacerta scincus; but Cuvier conceives that this cannot be the animal here referred to, because it is so very much smaller than the ichneumon, that no one would have thought of comparing them; and, what seems a better reason, because it is not found in the Nile. From the account of the scincus in B. xxviii. c. 30, it is probable that the animal here referred to is a species of monitor, popularly called the land crocodile. Herodotus, B. iv. c. 192, speaks of the land crocodile as found in Libya; it is also mentioned by Pausanias, Corinthiaca, c. 20, and by Prosper Alpinus, Ægypt. B. iv. c. 5.—B. The scincus is probably the “Lacerta ouaran” of Cuvier.
[1765] Cuvier remarks, that this account cannot really apply to the dolphin, because none of the cetacea possess the spines here described. He investigates the subject with his usual sagacity, and concludes, with much probability, that the animal here referred to was a squalus, the Squalus centrina, or spinax of Linnæus; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 443, 444; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 422, 423. We have an account of the contest between the crocodile and the dolphin in Seneca, Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c. 2.—B.
[1766] We have some account of the Tentyritæ in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. x. c. 21.—B. See B. xxviii. c. 6.
[1767] See B. vii. c. [2]. The best description of the Psylli is that given by Lucan in B. ix. l. 892, et seq., where he describes the march of Cato’s army across the burning coasts of the Syrtes.