NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 325 



duty for a giim, covers the bony edges of the jaws whence 

 they spring. 



The depressed and elongated body and tail are shielded 

 on the back by solid carinated scutcheons. The scales 

 of the belly are squared, comparatively delicate, and 

 smooth. The tail is longer than the body, compressed 

 laterally, and its scales are elevated into a central ridge. 

 The fore-feet are furnished with five toes, the hind-feet 

 with four. All the toes are armed with claws, and more 

 or less webbed. The nostrils open at the end of the 

 muzzle, and are raised and furnished with crescent- 

 shaped slits. This elevation is very strongly marked in 

 the Gavials or Gharrials, and enables the animal to lie 

 floating with the nostrils above the water without ex- 

 posing much of the head. They are closed by valves 

 when the creature descends. The fleshy flat tongue is 

 attached very nearly up to the edges ; whence the notion 

 of the ancients that the crocodile had none. This con- 

 formation prevents, in a great measure, the routing out 

 of leeches, &c. by muscular action, and accounts for the 

 necessity of external aid in freeing the mouth from an- 

 noying parasites. The lower jaw is prolonged backwards 

 beyond the skull, and the gape is proportionably elongated. 

 Hence, when the animal raises its head and throws it a 

 little backwards on opening the mouth by the depression 

 of the lower jaw, it has the appearance of moving its upper 

 jaw, whence the error of the ancients in that respect. 



Cuvier observes that the crocodiles cannot swallow 

 when in the water, but the evidence of those who have 

 seen alligators in their fishing expeditions hardly sup- 

 ports this assertion. It is true that such witnesses relate, 

 that after having seized the fish beneath the surface, the 

 captor rises above it, and occasionally tosses the prey 

 into the air, as if to get rid of the water taken in at the 

 time of the seizure : but there can be no question that, 

 on such occasions, the fish is swallowed by the alligator 



