2388 CROCODILES, DINOSAURS, AND FLYING DRAGONS 



sions during the Pliocene period, the garial subsists solely upon fish, for the cap- 

 ture of which its elongated narrow jaws, armed with numerous long, curved teeth, 

 are admirably adapted. There appears, indeed, to be no well authenticated instance 

 of these reptiles having attacked human beings or the larger mammals; and it is 

 perhaps owing to this harmless disposition that they are held sacred in many 

 parts of India by the Hindus. In accordance with the nature of its prey, the garial 

 seems to be more thoroughly aquatic in its habits than most of its allies; the 

 relatively-long hind-limbs and the fully-webbed toes being features specially suited 

 to aid in swimming. In the breeding season the female garial lays about forty eggs 

 in the sand of the river bank, these being deposited in two layers, and covered to 

 a considerable depth with sand; the two layers being probably laid on different 

 days. The newly-hatched young, which, from the great proportionate length of 

 their snouts, present a most extraordinary appearance, are very active, and of a 

 grayish-brown color, with five irregular dark oblique bands on the body, and nine 

 on the tail. 



In addition to those of the existing species, the Siwalik hills 

 have yielded remains of several extinct garials, some of which attained 

 gigantic dimensions; while other species belonging to the living genus have been 

 obtained from the middle Tertiary rocks of England. Possibly, also, certain fossil 

 gariale from the Cretaceous deposits of the United States should find a place in the 

 same generic group. Other Cretaceous species are, however, remarkable for the 

 presence of a vacuity in the skull in front of the eye socket, in consequence of 

 which they have been separated as a distinct genus, under the name of Thoracosaurus. 

 Mention must also be made of an enormous garial from the Siwalik hills, known 

 as Rhamphosuchus, which attained a length of some fifty or sixty feet, and had 

 teeth as large as those of the biggest crocodile; its upper teeth biting on the 

 outer side of the lower ones, instead of interlocking with them, as in the living 

 form. 



THE EARUER CROCODILES 



As already mentioned, all the existing crocodiles, together with the species 

 from the Tertiary formations, constitute a single family, characterized by the 

 vertebrae having a ball in front and a cup behind, and by the internal nostrils being 

 situated at the hinder end of the skull; as well as by the bony plates of the back 

 being arranged in at least four longitudinal rows. Although a few species found in 

 the topmost beds of the underlying Secondary formations approximate in some re- 

 spects to the foregoing, the majority of the crocodiles from rocks as old or older 

 than the Chalk differ very considerably from the existing types. In the first place, 

 the bodies of their vertebrae articulate with one another by slightly hollowed sur- 

 faces at both ends; while, owing to the want of union between the hindmost bones 

 of the palate beneath the nasal passages, the internal apertures of the nostrils are 

 situated nearly in the middle of the skull. Then again, when a bony armor is pres- 

 ent, the plates on the back are arranged in only two longitudinal rows, while those 



