60 SAUEIA. 



them, and only too frequently man is the unfortunate object attacked. A man seized by a 

 crocodile has only one way of saving his life, if not his limb, namely to force his fingers 

 into the eyes of the beast, which immediately lets go its victim, — a practice equally known 

 to the Indian of South America, to the Negro of Africa, and to the Hindoo. Dr. Cantor 

 says that a single crocodile will often appropriate to himself a limited district, which, if it 

 happens to be in the vicinity of a callage, will soon be perceived in the loss of the grazing 

 cattle. It does not appear to be very difficult to catch such a single depredator by a hook 

 baited with flesh or entrails, and made fast by a bunch of strong, thin cords, which it cannot 

 gnaw asunder, as they sink into the spaces between the teeth*. When drawn on shore 

 they emit a strong musk-like smell, out of some glands, two of which are situated iu the lower 

 jaw ; they make a noise intermediate between hissing and bellowing, clashing the jaws 

 together. It is not easy to kill them on the spot, except by a ball sent through the eye 

 into the brain, or through the neck to the spinal cord : of course, a severe injury to any of 

 the vital parts will prove fatal to them, but not before days or weeks have elapsed. 



All the Crocodiles are oviparous : the eggs have a hard shell, and resemble in size and 

 shape those of a goose ; from twenty to sixty are deposited in a hollow near the banks, and 

 slightly covered over with mould or sand. The young Crocodiles are of a rather rapid 

 growth. Jerdon has recorded one casef in which an egg of Crocodilus porosus, brought 

 from the fort ditch at Vellore to Walter Elliott, Esq., was hatched m the Government-house 

 compound, and in eight years had increased to the length of 8 or 9 feet, becoming so 

 powerful as to destroy a full-grovni buck antelope which had come to drink water at the 

 tank to which it usually resorted. 



The following genera are found in British India J : — 



Snout moderately long ; teeth — ^ — Crocodilus, p. 60. 



15 



25or26 



Snout very long and slender ; teeth ^ — ^ Gavialis, p. 63. 



CROCODILUS, Cuv. 



Teetli strong, very unequal in size, 18 or 19 above, and 15 below, on each 

 side, the teeth in the upper jaw being the strongest ; the fourth tooth of 

 the lower jaw passes into a groove at the lateral edge of the upj^er jaw §. 

 Snout moderately long. The posterior nuchal plates are separated from the 



dorsal by an interspace. 



« 



* Tennent's Nat. Hist. Ceylon, p. 288. t Joum. As. Soc. Bengal, xxii. p. 465. 



X Alligators are found only in the New World, but the English in India almost universally apply this 

 name to tlie Indian Crocodiles. 



§ The fourth tooth, normally, ought to be visible when the mouth is closed ; however, we have seen 

 young specimens of true Crocodiles in which that tooth passed into a groove, as described, on one side, 

 whilst its fellow on the other side was received into a pit as in the Alligators. 



