EXISTING CROCODILES 



2387 



the number of longitudinal rows is four, while there are twenty-one or twenty-two 

 transverse bands. Externally to the bony shields of the back there occurs on each 

 side a row of soft plates, which are either smooth, or but slightly keeled. The toes 

 are well webbed; and the general color of the adult is dark olive above; the young 

 being pale olive, with dark brown spots or bars. 



GANGETIC GARIAI,. 



(One-twenty-fifth natural size. ) 



The garial has a somewhat curious geographical distribution, being restricted 

 to the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra, with their larger affluents, together with 

 the Mahanadi in Orissa, and the Koladyne river in Arakan. Together with certain 

 tortoises mentioned later on, this reptile is one of the most ancient of living 

 animals, its fossil remains occurring in the rocks of the Siwalik hills in Northern 

 India in association with those of mammals belonging to extinct species and genera. 

 Attaining a length of fully twenty feet at the present day, aud still larger dimen- 



