BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 209 



above, it would be an easy matter for this crocodile, if we keep 

 in view its ability of existing for what might possibly be a 

 lengthened period in the open sea — and we must not lose sight 

 of the fact that this habit would be naturally initiated and finally 

 perfected by its residence among the islands of the Malay Archi- 

 pelago — to extend its range eastwards through New Guinea to 

 the Solomon Islands and ultimately to Fiji, and westwards 

 through Burma down the east coast of India to Ceylon, at 

 present its westerly limit. This would not necessarily, or even 

 probably be the case, were the contention of Indian writers 

 correct. 



The southern range of C. porosiis in Australia at the present 

 time coincides very fairly with the Tropic of Capricorn ; they are 

 abundant in ail the rivers of Queensland south to the Fitzroy 

 and Raglan, less common in the Calliope, and so rare in the 

 Boyne that, though the district had been settled for upwards of 

 forty years, its existence was unsuspected until an example was 

 shot in 1887 ; while in the Baffle River, still further south, the 

 only evidence of its presence is a single skeleton found upon the 

 bank.''^ 



This abrupt termination of their southerly range is probably 

 connected with the absence of the numerous islands and coral 

 reefs which fringe the coast to the north of Facing Island, oflf 

 the embouchure of the Boyne. Should they wander further to 

 the south they would of necessity be compelled to face the waves 

 of the open ocean, whereas to the northward they could creep 

 along the coast from river to river and lagune to lagune under 

 the shelter of the Great Barrier and its satellite reefs. 



As regards their food I am informed that those who are 

 intimately acquainted with the animal in its natural haunts are 

 agreed in stating that the most dainty morsel which can be 

 offered to this reptile is a dog, a fact which many observers 

 have recorded of the allied African Crocodile (('. nUoticns) ; but 

 I am unaware as to whether the Queensland dog has as yet 

 learnt the lesson which long ages of persecution has taught his 

 Egyptian brother, who, when thirsty, sits down at the water's 

 edge and howls for several minutes, by this means attracting all 

 the crocodiles in the vicinity to that place, whereupon the dog 

 quietly trots along the bank for a couple of hundred yards or so 

 and is thus enabled to reap the reward of his cleverness by 

 quenching his thirst in peace ; though this has been affirmed by 



* One is stated to have been shot lately in the Mary River. 



