CROCODILES. 65 



ally, however, instead of burying themselves, 

 they appear to migrate in a body in search of 

 water, numbers falling by the way, either by 

 accident, or at the hands of natives whom they 

 encounter. 



The largest and most formidable of all the 

 crocodiles is the Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodilus 

 porosus). It resembles in general appearance 

 the foregoing species, but may be distinguished 

 therefrom by the more elongate snout. Further- 

 more, it differs from the Indian Marsh Crocodile 

 and from all other species, by the presence of 

 a long ridge running forward from each eye 

 towards the snout. Specimens of over twenty 

 feet are fairly common, and one instance is on 

 record of a specimen which had attained the 

 enormous length of thirty -three feet. Frequent- 

 ing the tidal portions of rivers, it is not surprising 

 to find that this species frequently descends to 

 the sea. This fact accounts for its wide geo- 

 graphical distribution, which extends from the 

 Gulf of Bengal to Southern China, across the 

 Malay Peninsula to Australia. Its ferocity 

 makes it at once detested and feared. In India 

 the natives of Dacca, at the mouth of the Bay 

 of Bengal, make the hunting of this beast a 

 profession. An account of one of these hunts, 

 published in a native paper, tells how a boy 

 was carried off by a man-eater of this species. 

 The hunter having been summoned, he moored 

 his canoe near the scene of the tragedy, knowing 

 that having recently made a successful raid the 

 brute would hover near the spot in the hope of 

 obtaining fresh victims. In a short time the 

 E 



