172 NATURAL HISTORY. 



fish are not big enough for it ; and it is only an occasional visitor 

 to the estuaries, and very rare in the sea. 



The Crocodile-shooting in the Kil is really good. 



At Ashtami, on the estuary of the beautiful Kmndlika River, there 

 is a small double-barrelled tank, containing innumerable frogs and 

 water-beetles, a very few tiny fish, and perhaps a score of Croco- 

 diles over 5 feet long, besides youngsters, which keep in the 

 shallow water for fear of being eaten by their parents. They are 

 ludicrously tame. The oldest inhabitant had never heard of their 

 hurting any one ; and one could see them watching women washing 

 clothes, and mere babies paddling in the shallow water, without,, 

 apparently, a thought of mischief. One over & feet long crawled 

 out within pistol-shot of my tent, and was shot by candle-light. He 

 had nothing in his stomach but water-beetles, may be a gallon of 

 them, and flint-stones swallowed, I suppose, to aid digestion. 

 A few days after a friend of mine (also a member of this Society) 

 wounded the patriarch of the tanks. A gang of life-boatmen, attached 

 during the fine season to my own and another private boat, dived 

 and literally harnessed him, and dragged him ashore, roaring, 

 snapping, and lashing the "scaly horror of his tail" like the old dra- 

 gon. But on dissection we found the same water-beetles, plus two 

 crows which I had been using for bait in a vain endeavour to hook 

 him. This brute was 10 feet 2 inches long and over-pulled my spring 

 balance at 3001bs. I had watched them catching something all day for 

 ten days, and thought it must be frogs or tadpoles. The idea of such 

 brutes living entirely on water-beetles is new to me; and I would like 

 to know if any member has seen the like. Their teeth were quite 

 black, whether b}' reason of the water-beetle diet or not I cannot say. 

 Usually they are white, with brown stains. 



Varanus dracaena, the Ghorpur, is very common, and eaten by 

 many castes. The name of Water-lizard is, however, misapplied to it. 

 In its habits it is a Land-lizard, which swims well, as many Land- 

 snakes do ; and can even dive well, which they generally cannot do. 

 But it is quite independent of the water, and is often found miles 

 from anything more than a well or puddle in a nullah. 



Varanus lunalus, the Banded Ghorpur, may exist here. Young 

 Ghorpurs are all banded; but this reptile is described as having 105 

 cross series of shields between the gular fold and the loin, as against 

 90 in the original Ghorpur. The Great JJ//d>osauri are not 

 found. 



