CROCODILUS SIAMENSIS. 219 
enknown, although Iam informed that a large crocodile was shot on 
the upper Me Yome, some distance north of Prae, two years ago. 
On the upper reaches of the Me Kong it does not appear to exist, but 
further south on that river is well known. I have a skull from 
Kemarat, lat. 16°. In the peninsula of Siam it is not uncommon in 
swamps in the neighbourhood of Chumporn, and it is again to be found 
at the northern extremity of the Talé Sap, near Singgora. 
A fresh-water crocodile is also recorded from the following 
localities, and is prebably referable to this species. 
Robinson and Annandale (Fascic. Malay, 1904, p- 148) report 
one as common on tha upper reaches of the Patani river. South of this 
there is no direct evidence of the existence of any fresh-water crocodile 
in the Malay Peninsula. 
On the Quaa Noi river, near Sai Yoke, W. Siam, a crocodile is 
reported as being common. 
Last year whilst travelling on the Lang Bian plateau, 
S. Annam, Monsieur Millet, Conservator of Forests to the French 
Government, informed me that crocodiles in large numbers existed there 
in a small lake at Tak-Lak, elevation of about 1000 metres. They wer- 
also plentiful in several large swamps in southern Cambodia. 
Habits. The Siamese Crocodile is essentially a fresh-water ine 
habitant, haunting by preference slow-moving streams with muddy 
banks. Not far north of Paknampo, C. Siam, they have lived for years 
in the borrow-pits beside the railway embankment, and have become 
so accustomed to the daily service of trains that they make no attempt 
to move away when they pass by. At the end of the rainy season, 
when the whole country is flooded, they are said to disappear, 
returning again as the waters dry up. Their reason for preferring 
these pits, in preference to the main river which is not more than a 
few hundred yards away, is due ne doubt to the absence of molesta- 
tion by passing boats, and also to the greater ease of obtaining food. 
For the same reason they prefer swamps wherever they are to be found 
in the vicinity of rivers. 
The Siamese Crocodile does not appear te be a particularly 
aggressive creature. I have never heard of any grown person being 
attacked by it, although I am told that small children are some- 
times seized. The country people certainly seem to have little fear of 
VOL. II, NO. TH, 1919. 
Z 
