THE GATTGETIC CROCODILE. 55 



From the gavial, which has the narrowest muzzle of all the 

 crocodilians, all the known species of crocodiles, caimans, and 

 jacares, can be arranged in a regular series according to the width 

 of their muzzles, leading by regular gradations down to the aUi- 

 gator, which has the broadest muzzle of all, inasmuch as the sides 

 are nearly parallel from the angle of the jaw to the canine teeth. 



The Indian gavial inhabits all the large rivers of Northern India, 

 the Ganges up to Hurdwar, nine hundi-ed and eighty-three feet 

 above the sea, the Jumna, Sardah, Indus, Brahmapootra and their 

 tributaries, but does not occur anywhere in Southern India, nor 

 Burmah. Another species of gavial, called by Dr. Gray, Tomistoma 

 schlegellii, is found in Borneo, but nowhere else so far as we know at 

 present. The mugger ( Crocodilus bombifrons), inhabits all India 

 from the foot of the Himalayas where the water is often frozen,* 

 almost to Cape Comorin. I saw only one small specimen of this 

 species in the Jumna, and as it lay upon a sand-bar close beside 

 some gavials, the points of difference between the two were very 

 striking. I observed it long and carefully with a powerful field- 

 glass, and f uUy satisfied myself as to its identity. The gavial looked 

 smooth and yellow, whereas the little mugger had a very rugose 

 appearance, and in color was of a dirty gray. When he left the 

 water he deliberately walked out upon the sand, and when I finally 

 fired at him he sprang up on his feet, and ran across the bar into 

 the water, in doing which he more nearly resembled a huge iguana 

 than a crocodile. I examined the spot directly afterward, and be- 

 sides the tracks left by his feet there was only a broken mark where 

 the tip of his tail had touched the sand as he ran. Out of perhaps 

 four hundred and fifty to five hundred gavials, crocodiles, and alli- 

 gators which I have watched getting from the land into the water, 

 only foiir have stood up on their legs and run. This mugger was 

 one, and another was a Mississippi aUigator, which I afterward 

 killed, and found to be in a very emaciated condition, owing to the 

 fact that nearly half of its upper jaw had been bitten off, and it had 

 apparently experienced great difficulty in capturing its prey. 



Gavials are the smoothest of all the large crocodilians it has 

 been my privilege to handle as living specimens, i.e., all the Ameri- 

 can species save one, and three in the East Indies. They are also 

 the brightest in color. Lying upon the sand at a distance of two 

 hundred yards, their bodies often seem to be of a uniform dull 



• Gray. 



