TRUE CROCODILES. 



2T 



True Crocodiles. 



and yellow. Practically nothing is known as to the habits of this peculiar species, 

 which are, however, probably very similar to those of its allies. 



The true crocodiles comprise rather less than a dozen species, 

 ranging over Africa, Southern Asia, Northern Australia, and Tropical 

 America. Having no bony armour on the lower surface of the body, they are 

 distinguished from the caimans and alligators by the interlocking of the upper 

 and lower teeth, and by the fourth lower tooth being usually received into a notch 

 on the side of the upper jaw, so as to be partially visible when the mouth is closed, 

 while the number of teeth varies from seventeen to nineteen on each side of the 



stumpy crocodile (^ nat. size). 



upper jaw, and fifteen in the lower. From the stumpy crocodile they are distin- 

 guished by the aperture of the nostrils in the skull not being divided by the 

 forward prolongation of the nasal bones. While some of the species resemble the 

 alligators in their broad and short snouts, others have elongated, narrow snouts, 

 approaching those of the garials ; but as there is an almost complete gradation 

 from the one type to the other, this affords no ground for generic distinction, 

 so that the most that can be done is to arrange them in groups. 



Commonly known to the natives of India as the magar, and 

 misnamed alligator by Anglo-Indians, the Indian crocodile (Crocodilus 

 palustris) is the best known representative of a group of four species which, 

 in their broad and short snouts, make the nearest approach to the caimans and 



Indian CrocodUe. 



