in zoology. See Lacerta.

Fossil Crocodile, one of the greatest curiosities in the fossil world which the late ages have produced. It is the skeleton of a large crocodile, almost entire, found at a great depth underground, bedded in stone. This was in the possession of Linkius, who wrote many pieces of natural history, and particularly an accurate description of this curious fossil. It was found in the side of a large mountain in the midland part of Germany, and in a stratum of black fossil stone, somewhat like our common flate, but of a coarser texture, the same with that in which the fossil fish in many parts of the world are found. This skeleton had the back and ribs very plain, and was of a much deeper black than the rest of the stone; as is also the case in the fossil fishes which are preserved in this manner. The part of the stone where the head lay was not found; this being broken off just at the shoulders, but that irregularly; so that, in one place, a part of the back of the head was visible in its natural form. The two shoulder-bones were very fair, and three of the feet were well preserved; the legs were of their natural shape and size, and the feet preserved even to the extremities of the five toes of each.

Crocodile (crocodilus), in rhetoric, a captious and sophistical kind of argumentation, contrived to seduce the unwary, and draw them speciously into a snare. It has its name crocodile from the following occasion, invented by the poets. A poor woman, begging a crocodile