50 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



reptile measuring 33ft. in length. On the other hand, there does not appear 

 to be any record of the African crocodile attaining anything approaching 

 such dimensions. The largest specimen of this species in the British 

 Museum, at the date when the Catalogue of Chelonians and Crocodiles was 

 published, measured just under I5ft. (4^ metres) in length; and Dr. 

 Voeltzkow, who made a special study of these reptiles in Madagascar a few 

 years ago, states that the largest specimen he measured was I3ft. long. 

 Again, writing of Egyptian crocodiles, Dr. J. Anderson, in his " Reptiles of 

 Egypt," states that there is no authentic record of any specimen exceeding 

 iyft. in length. Mr. Selous, on page 291 of his " Hunter's Wanderings," 

 refers to a I3ft. crocodile as a large one. So far as I can discover there 

 appears to be no record of an African crocodile 22ft. in length. R. L. 

 Field, March 19, 1910. 



SIR, I must thank Mr. G. A. Boulenger and Mr. R. Lydekker for their 

 answers in the Field of March 19 with reference to the length of the 

 African crocodile. 



I have shot a number of crocodiles in the Zambesi and Luangwa rivers, 

 and the largest one I taped measured I4ft. Once on the Zambesi, while 

 travelling in the river steamer Hamburg, I saw and wounded a much bigger 

 one. It was lying asleep on a sand bank about midday, and 1 used a '303 

 rifle with a soft-nosed bullet. When the bullet struck, the crocodile raised 

 its tail in the air and brought it down with a thump, as these reptiles often 

 do when well hit. Thinking it was dead, I picked up a pair of binoculars, 

 and through them I saw the blood pouring out of the wound between the 

 neck and shoulder. While I was looking I heard the crack of two Snider 

 rifles, and on turning round I found that two Portuguese soldiers had both 

 fired. Their bullets did not strike the crocodile, but passed over it and 

 raised the sand some distance beyond. However, the crocodile seemed to 

 revive, and was quickly in the water before I could reload and fire again. 



This was by far the largest crocodile I have ever seen, either in India or 

 Africa, and it seemed half as long again as the I4ft. one that I measured. 

 Its bulk and girth were enormous and far exceeded an i8ft. garial I once 

 measured in the Brahmaputra River in Assam. The skipper of the 

 Hamburg, who had been some time on the Zambesi, told me that he had 

 never seen one approaching it in size. It was well hit with a raking shot, 

 and I fancy it died, but shall always regret that I did not fire again and 

 make sure of this, for I could have persuaded the skipper to stop the 

 steamer and put me ashore so that I might have taped the animal. In fact, 

 he said he would have done so had the crocodile not escaped. The i8ft. 

 garial I measured in the Brahmaputra was a large one, but I believe I have 

 seen a few bigger. In 1894 these animals were very plentiful, although in 

 five or six years they got scarcer, as many people used to fire at them from 

 the passing steamers. 



I have an idea that the late Sir Samuel Baker mentions a large crocodile 

 in his book on the sources of the Nile, but it is so many years since I read 

 the work in question that I have forgotten the facts. 



