GARIALS. 3 1 



consequently separated by a long interval from the anterior jawbones, or pre- 

 maxillae ; while the teeth — twenty -seven to twenty-nine on each side of the upper, 

 and twenty-five or twenty-six in the lower jaw — are all of nearly uniform size, 

 and those of the lower jaw are not received into distinct pits. Moreover, the bony 

 union between the two branches of the lower jaw extends backwards to the 

 twenty-third or twenty-fourth tooth, whereas in the Bornean species it stops short 

 at the fourteenth or fifteenth. At its extremity the long and narrow snout 

 becomes much expanded ; and in the male this expanded extremity is surmounted 

 by a hollow hump, in the centre of which are placed the nostrils. The bony plates 

 of the neck form a shield continuous with that of the back, in which the number 

 of longitudinal rows is four, while there are twenty-one or twenty-two transverse 

 bands. Externally to the bony shields of the back there occurs on each side a row 

 of soft plates, which are either smooth, or but slightly keeled. The toes are well 

 webbed ; and the general colour of the adult is dark olive above ; the young being 

 pale olive, with dark brown spots or bars. 



The garial has a somewhat curious geographical distribution, being restricted 

 to the Indus, Ganges, and Bramaputra, with their larger affluents, together with 

 the Mahanadi in Orissa, and the Koladyni River in Arakan. Together with certain 

 tortoises mentioned later on, this reptile is one of the most ancient of living 

 animals, its fossil remains occurring in the rocks of the Siwalik Hills in Northern 

 India in association with those of mammals belonging to extinct species and 

 genera. Attaining a length of fully 20 feet at the present day, and still larger 

 dimensions during the Pliocene period, the garial subsists solely upon fish, for the 

 capture of which its elongated narrow jaws, armed with numerous long, curved 

 teeth, are admirably adapted. There appears, indeed, to be no well authenticated 

 instance of these reptiles having attacked human beings or the larger mammals ; 

 and it is perhaps owing to this harmless disposition that they are held sacred in 

 many parts of India by the Hindus. In accordance with the nature of its prey, 

 the garial seems to be more thoroughly aquatic in its habits than most of its allies ; 

 the relatively long hind-limbs and the fully- webbed toes being features specially 

 suited to aid in swimming. In the breeding-season the female garial lays about 

 forty eggs in the sand of the river bank, these being deposited in two layers, and 

 covered to a considerable depth with sand ; the two layers being probably laid on 

 different days. The newly hatched young, which, from the great proportionate 

 length of their snouts, present a most extraordinary appearance, are very active, 

 and of a greyish brown colour, with five irregular dark oblique bands on the body, 

 and nine on the tail. 

 „ . „ . In addition to those of the existing species, the Siwalik Hills 



Extinct Garials. . . . , 



have yielded remains of several extinct garials, some of which attained 

 gigantic dimensions ; while other species belonging to the living genus have been 

 obtained from the middle Tertiary rocks of England. Possibly, also, certain fossil 

 garials from the Cretaceous deposits of the United States should find a place in the 

 same generic group. Other Cretaceous species are, however, remarkable for the 

 presence of a vacuity in the skull in front of the eye-socket, in consequence of 

 which they have been separated as a distinct genus, under the name of Thoracosaurust 

 Mention must also be made of an enormous garial from the Siwalik Hills, known 



