Note 178 — Chapter XXX

One of the most celebrated species of this division is the crocodile of the Nile, which probably is to be met with in the western branch of that river, the Bahr-el-Abiad, as high as 4000 feet. Immense numbers of this species, of every size and age, are found embalmed in the catacombs of the ancient Egyptians, which are perfectly identical with the existing species, and offering another proof of the important fact first announced by Cuvier, from his examination of the mummies of the ibis, that no animal, in its wild state, had presented the least change, within the longest historical periods.