206 AUSTKALIAN CROCODILES 



sity for breathing should arise, the superior aspect of the nostrils 

 and the ingenious method by which the respired air is conveyed 

 to the lungs by means of a passage, bordered below by the firmly 

 ankylosed nasal, palatine, and pterygoid bones — which passage 

 only opens far back in the throat — enable them to breathe, and 

 at the same time retain their hold on the prey. Should this be 

 of too large a size to permit of its being conveniently torn to 

 pieces at once, it is, when dead, dragged upon a sand-or mud- 

 bank and there secreted until the advent of putrefaction so 

 softens the tissues as to make them easily separable by the 

 powerful jaws of their destroyer. 



All the crocodilians are wholly aquatic, only leaving the 

 water to bask in the sun on sand-or mud-banks, or to devour 

 the prey which they have previously brought thither. When 

 any river, pond, or marsh inhabited by these reptiles is about to 

 become dry, as is so often the case in tropical countries, Ihey 

 bury themselves in the mud, and there remain quiescent until 

 the return of moisture recalls them to active existence, at 

 which time hunger makes them exceptionally savage and in- 

 different to danger. This is not, however, an invariable hal)it, 

 since the East Indian Crocoiltlus jHibistria or Mar.--h Crocodile, 

 is known to leave its usual haunts on the approach of drought 

 and travel in search of water, secreting itself in the day time, 

 and continuing its journey during the hours of darkness only ; 

 whether its instinct, like that of the fre-;h-\vater eels {An'juilla) 

 under similar circumstances, leads it by the most direct route to 

 the nearest water, is a point on which no evidence is forth- 

 coming, but it is more than probable that such is the case ; nor 

 do we know whether the same instinct impels them, on the 

 advent of rain, to return to their former home ; this also is not 

 improbable, for it is well known that birds H,nd fishes will always, 

 if it be physically possible, return year after year to the same 

 place. 



A favorite method of approaching their prey is by sub- 

 merging the head and tail, leaving only the dorsal surface — and 

 of course the extreme tip of the snout in which the nostrils are 

 pierced, and which is too small to attract attention — exposed, 

 and in this manner floating motionless with the current, when 

 they bear so close a resemblance to a floating log as frequently 

 to deceive even those well acquainted with their habits. 



The majority of the Crocodilidcc are inhabitants of the 

 rivers and marshy lagunes of tropical and subtropical countries; 



