154 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



is another species, the so-called false gavial, in Borneo. The garial grow* 

 to a length of 20 feet, and has the same habit, as the other Indian and Kile- 

 species, of sleeping with its jaws open whilst basking on the sandbanks. 



With regard to the other Indian crocodiles, C. porosus and C. palustris, al- 

 though long ago discriminated, nothing is known as to their geographical dis- 

 tribution ; and although when in India I again and again appealed through the 

 newspapers for information, and worried my friends on the subject, I was un- 

 able satisfactorily to settle the question. When in Ceylon, I also appealed to 

 sportsmen and naturalists, few of whom knew that there was more than one 

 species. Even m the Colombo Museum I could only find one small specimen of 

 C. palustris. When first I took up the subject, I was told that I could not 

 depend on the number of cervical and nuchal plates to determine the species, as 

 these plates varied. Thereupon, after consulting Owen and Huxley, I come to 

 the conclusion that the teeth, being persistent, might at any age be depended 

 upon. Alas ! on consulting the British Museum authorities I found that the 

 young of one of the species which I was working at had five teeth between the 

 median line and the notch in the upper jaw, whilst the adult had normally only 

 four. Here, again, the ground was cut from under my feet. It then occurred 

 to me that at all events the premaxillary sutures might surely be depended 

 upon as affording a constant and distinct difference, and for a while all 

 went well. 



But (though this sounds hardly credible) I have at the present time before 

 me, as I write, a young specimen of C. palustris, with the premaxillary pat- 

 tern which belongs to C. porosus. 



I have finally come to the conclusion that, in order to be certain as to 

 species, one must secure an adult skull. An adult skin will do equally well. 



I will now proceed to show the difference of the two species : 



I will start with C. palustris, Lesson, Orient. Zool. Pro., p. 305 ; Kelaart 

 Prodr., p. 183 ; Giinther Eept. Brit. Ind., p. 61, pi. viii, fig. A ; Theobald Cat.,, 

 p. 36 ; Boulenger Cat. Chel.,.&c, p. 285. C. trigonops, Gray : Cat. Tort., &c. 

 Cbombifrons, Gray Cat., p. 59 ; Huxley, Pro. Linn. Soc., 1859, pp. 13—28.. 

 €. iifureatus, Cautley, Asiatic Eesearches, xix. C. vulgaris, Cantor, Mai. Rep., 

 p. 15. These are all the synonyms that I can find of what we may call the 

 marsh crocodile of India. The characteristics are as follows : Snout — that is, 

 the length taken from the eyes forward— one and three-quarters to one and 

 a half as long as the width at the base. The width of the interorbital space 

 is much less than the vertical diameter of the orbit. Nineteen upper teeth 

 on each side. Head rough but without any ridges : pre-maxillo suture on the 

 palate transverse, nearly straight or curved forward. Four large nuchal scales 

 forming a square with a smaller one on each side ; two pairs of smaller ones, 

 in a transverse series behind the occiput. Dorsal shield well separated from the 

 nuchal ; the scutse usually in four, rarely in six longitudinal series. Scales on 

 limbs, keeied. Digits webbed at the base, outer toes extensively webbed. A 



