3o 



CROCODILES. 



Garial, 



Probably owing to a clerical error on the part of its first describer 

 the slender -snouted crocodile known in India by the vernacular 

 name of garial, is almost always spoken of in Europe as the gavial, while its mis- 

 spelt name has even been Latinised into Gavialis — an error which some writers 

 persist in perpetuating. The garial (Garialis gangetica) is readily distinguished 

 at a glance from all other crocodiles by the exceeding length and slenderness of 



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gangetic garial (^ nat. size). 



its snout ; the length varying from more than five times the basal width in the 

 young to rather more than three in the adult. This narrow snout gives to the 

 reptile a decidedly curious appearance; and it is perhaps noteworthy that both 

 the garial and the gangetic dolphin, which inhabit the same rivers, and probably 

 feed on the same kind of food, have similarly elongated beak-like snouts, armed 

 with very similar curved and slender conical teeth ; this resemblance being doubt- 

 less due to adaptation to a similar mode of life. From Schlegel's garial, the 

 present species is readily distinguished by the nasal bones being very short, and 



