ON THE OCCUEEENCE OF SCHLEaEL'S GAVIAL 

 (TOMISTOMA SCHLEGELI) IN THE MALAY PEN- 

 INSULA, WITH EEMAEKS ON THE ATLAS AND 

 AXIS OF THE CEOCODILIANS. 



By G-. A. BOULENGER, F.R.S.* 



A Grharial - like Crocodile, Tomistoma schlegeli, described by 

 Salomon Midler in 1838, was, until lately, believed to be peculiar 

 to Borneo. In 1890, however, its occurrence in Sumatra was 

 recorded by Max Weber (Zool. Ergebn., p. 176). The Malay 

 Peninsula may now be added to its habitat. 



A few months ago the British Museum received from Mr. 

 L. Wray, Curator of the Perak Government Museum, a fine 

 half -grown specimen, with the following remarks: — 



" The siDecimen was caught at Pulau Tiga, in the Perak 

 river, in Jime, 1895, and I kept it in a pond imtil the end of 

 December, when it was killed. For months it would eat nothing 

 but a few small fish, but during the latter portion of the time it 

 would eat freely of any meat or fish given to it. It also became 

 quite tame and would remain at the surface of the water with 

 its head on the bank while people stood near it. 



" So far as I have been able to ascertain no Crocodile 

 belonging to the Gavial group has ever been recorded from the 

 Malayan Peninsula, so that the foUo-ttang particulars will be of 

 interest. 



" I first heard of the occurrence of a Gavial in the State of 

 Perak in 1889, and in the same year Mr. Cecil Wray, the then 

 Acting Superintendent of Lower Perak, obtained a skull from 

 the Perak river, and sent it to the Perak Museum, — the animal 

 was seven feet long. A second was caught in the Kinta river, 

 near Batu Gajah, in 1893 or 1894. It was seciu-ed by Captain 

 H. C. Metcalfe, of the Perak Sikhs, and the skin is now in his 

 possession. It measures 6 feet 8 inches, but the tail is very 

 short, having probably been injured when young, the head 

 measures 18 inches, the upper jaw 30 inches, and the lower jaw 



* From the proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, the 16th Jiine, 1896. 



