2862 The Zoologist— December, 1871. 



Notes on Indian Crocodiles. By A. Anderson, Esq., F.Z.S. 



The fact of a crocodile, no matter what species, seizing its prey 

 071 sJiore is of sufficient interest to be recorded. It is a common 

 enough thing for these Saurians to lie in wait at deep pools and 

 bathing ghats till some victim is by accident brought within easy 

 reach, and then to seize and take it down ; but I have never before 

 heard of an instance similar to what I am about to chronicle. Not 

 long ago I heard from my friend Major Sharpe, who was out on an 

 ornithological excursion to the north of Oudh, that his dog 

 had been taken away by one of these scaly monsters. He 

 writes: — "Just lost my dog, a large spaniel; he went with me 

 along the little stream Biswee, went up lo a " Nak" and barked at it, 

 was boned and taken down before I could help him." As the name 

 " Naka" and " Gharial" are occasionally applied by some villagers 

 to both species, which are equally common in these provinces, 

 viz., Gharialis gangeticus (the long-nosed species), and Crocodilus 

 palustris (the snub-nosed species, the true muggur, and the croco- 

 dile of the North-West), and as I could hardly believe that the 

 former could be guilty of such a piece of audacity, I wrote to my 

 friend for further particulars. The following is an extract from his 

 reply : — " I did not see the muggur, so can't say which kind he was. 

 He was lying on the bank of the river, a small stream lined with 

 the wild jamoon trees along both banks. It was just after sunset, 

 and I was strolling along, when my dog, a large-sized spaniel, very 

 playful as he always is, was running along the bank, about three 

 feel above the water. He suddenly rushed on barking, and I 

 thought he was perhaps after a hare. He then howled out as if 

 something had turned on him, and as he had'nt any pluck, I 

 thought that perhaps a pig had frightened him. I thought nothing 

 more about it, but to my surprise the dog went on howling, and I 

 saw him striiygling too, but still ofi the ground, and my man 

 suggested that something had hold of him. I ran up, but only 

 heard the heavy splash and the drowning howl of the dog as he 

 went down, and the water closed over them just as I got up to the 

 spot. The animal habitually haunted that place, as all the long 

 grass on the bank had been worn away by his daily lying there. 

 An aheer* told me that a tattoo t had been carried off only a short 

 time ago." '• 



* Cow-herd. + Small pony. 



