CROCODILES. 61 
is a difference between these two Reptiles in the arrangement of 
their teeth. 
A Caiman’s dorsal and ventral bony plates are articulated to- 
gether, an Alligator’s are not. The latter has smooth and fleshy 
eyelids, but those of the former contain a bony plate. 
The Jacare is said to differ from the Caiman and the Alligator 
in having wrinkled eyelids instead of smooth ones, and also in 
possessing a ridge of bone between the eyes.. But, after all, 
there is a very close likeness between Alligators, Caimans, and 
Jacares; and it much simplifies matters to divide the Crocodilia 
into Crocodiles and Alligators. 
The Crocodiles of India sometimes grow to a length of 26ft., 
and even more than that, according to some writers. In their 
native waters they are exceedingly dangerous to both man and 
beast ; by a stroke of their very powerful tail they frequently 
knock their victims into the water, and they are thus completely 
at their mercy. The only hope, as a rule, that a man has under 
such terrible circumstances is to force his fingers into the brute’s 
eyes. This also applies to Alligators. Many people have lost 
their lives through incautiously entering the water or walking 
upon its banks where these reptiles abound. 
In India, sometimes, when Crocodiles have been slain, a post- 
mortem examination shows, by revealing various articles of native 
jewellery, that he has been preying upon human victims. For 
instance, Mr. Buckland, a cousin, I believe, of the late Mr. 
Frank Buckland, writing in a recent number of Longman’s 
Magazine, says, in a very interesting article upon these 
creatures: ‘‘It may seem incredible, but at one of the bathing- 
places of the city of Cuttack a large Alligator (Crocodile) was 
killed, and when it was cut open the silver and gold and brass 
ornaments that the women wear which were found in its belly 
were enough to show that it must have carried off and killed up- 
wards of thirty grown-up women. . . . The head of an Alligator 
(Crocodile) is in the shape of a triangle, and the base of the triangle 
in this Alligator was 38in. on the bone, so that when covered with 
skin, and flesh, and muscle, it must have looked larger.” 
Men have been known to hunt and kill Crocodiles just simply 
for the purpose of possessing whatever gold and silver ornaments 
