206 



THE MALAY PROVINCE 



Arabia, Africa, and Madagascar. These remarkable snakes are very similar in 

 habits to large earth-worms. 



Crocodiles, which inhabit all the warmer countries of Africa, 

 Asia, Australia, and America, and are the largest of living reptiles, 

 are mainly denizens of the water, and without exception carnivorous, although 



Crocodiles. 



'<•«*&, 



( 



INDIAN LONG-NOSED CROCODILE. 



S 



they do not all live on the same kind of food. The gharial (Garialis gangetica), 

 which feeds mainly on fish, and grows to about 20 feet in length, inhabits 

 the Indus, Ganges, and the Bramaputra, together with a few other rivers in India, 

 is an Indian rather than a Mala}' species. Among other features, it is character- 

 ised by its long and narrow jaws and slender curved teeth. Instances of its attack- 

 ing human beings have been recently recorded. It is the sole representative of its 

 genus. An allied form, the Bornean gharial, representing a second genus, is noticed 



