The Zoologist — December, 1871. 2863 



When mentioning this anecdote to a friend of mine, he appeared 

 sceptical as to the crocodile seizing the dog on terra firma, and 

 mentioned that the modus operandi was for the reptile to knock its 

 victim into the water with its tail, and there capture it. I accord- 

 ingly applied for further information with the following results : — 

 " The muggur seized the dog on the bank, about a yard above the 

 water, where he was Ijing. I can state positively that the brute 

 caught the dog with its mouth, most probably by the hind leg or 

 the tail, which was long and bushy. The poor creature in 

 struggling to get away fell once and got up again, and it was plain 

 he was caught behind. On noticing this, we began to run to the 

 spot, and the muggur, hearing us, dropped over the bank into the 

 water, his weight pulling the dog with him. You may be quite at 

 rest about the tail dodge." 



There is in the above hardly sufficient evidence to decide 

 whether this " monster of the deep " was the gharial {G. gangeticus) 

 or the muggur (C paluslris), as both the vernacular names, nak 

 and muggur, have been used. Writers on Herpetology have 

 invariably described the former as purely piscivorous, but this is 

 erroneous to a great extent. Doubtless this species, in common 

 with its brotherhood, subsists chiefly on fish, but I know from my 

 own experience that the gharial is very partial to dogs, goats, and, 

 I should add, grilled bones, as he is to be found associating with 

 his more formidable relative, the muggur, at all the burning ghats 

 along the Ganges and Jumna. In some of the smaller streams, 

 such as the Cane, Chumbul, &c., if a fire be kindled on the shore 

 it is quite enough to make them put their noses above the water. 

 I have heard of a gharial making a sudden dash at a dog that was 

 drinking water at the edge of a jheel, missing him by some 

 accident, and remaining motionless, quite paralyzed as it were, 

 from the strenuous movement, and remaining in that position till 

 shot, and thus identified. Dogs have actually been carried away 

 in the Ganges Canal by the gharial, and 1 have seen a native who 

 had been severely mauled in one of his legs by one of these long- 

 nosed brutes. As regards the snub-nosed fellows (C. palustris), 

 they are capable of any amount of daring, and only lately a 

 case of one having been shot in Lower Bengal, in the act of 

 stalking a pony in shallow water, where the country was in- 

 undated by the late heavy rains, has been recorded in the 'Pioneer' 

 newspaper. 



