MIS CELL A tfEOUS NO TES. 1 55 



ge rrated fringe on the outer edge of the leg. The dorsal scales are much 

 larger and stronger than in C. porosus, and it has five teeth in the upper jaw 

 from the median line to the notch. 



The marsh crocodile lays its eggs in the sand and makes no nest. The 

 period of incubation, which differs in accordance with the temperature, is 

 said to be about forty days. Jackals dig up and eat the eggs ; but I am 

 not aware that this has been recorded of the mungoose in India, although 

 in Egypt there is no doubt of the fact. The length of the young one the 

 day after it is hatched is 10 1 inches. This I ascertained by actual measurement 

 of a specimen sent to me by Mr. Phipson, Hon. Sec. of the Bombay Natural 

 History Society. This species is found in tanks and rivers throughout India, 

 Ceylon, Burma, and the Malay Archipelago, extending west to Sind and 

 Beluchistan. It is the only species, Mr. Phipson informs me, that is found in 

 Bombay, and in the Kuddlehundi (the G-reek Sardis), and Beypore rivers, and 

 the backwaters on the west coast up which the tide rises for a considerable 

 distance. To my knowledge the natives on the banks of these backwaters 

 are not a bit afraid of them, and may be seen in mid-stream diving for shells 

 to make lime, where there are any number of crocodiles. The last time I 

 stood on the Kuddlehundi railway bridge I saw four of these saurians (one 

 of which I killed) basking on the mud which the tide had left uncovered. 

 A friend of mine, when shooting on the Beypore river, saw some otters, 

 evidently frightened, making for the shore ; and as they reached the bank one 

 of them was followed and seized by a crocodile, which rushed after them. 

 My friend fired at and hit the crocodile, which he did not get, but bagged the 

 otter, which had the marks of the saurian's teeth. A writer in the Asian, 

 who gave his name, some years ago, described how one of the species seized 

 a peacock on the bank that sprang upwards several feet to avoid him, and was 

 carried off, leaving no sign but a few feathers floating on the water. 



The crocodiles at Muggerpeer, near Kurrachi, described by the late Dr. 

 Leith Adams in the Field of Jan. 9, 1875, are of the species now under con- 

 sideration, The pond is literally alive with them, and the late Sir Richard 

 Burton, in one of his books (either " Sind " or " Sind Re-visited "), tells how 

 a foolhardy British subaltern ran across the pond, which was literally paved 

 with crocodiles ! After a man had been carried out of his own verandah 

 by a crocodile, the Government insisted that the place should be walled in, 

 which was done. 



In many parts of India the crocodile is venerated, if not worshipped. In 

 the Calcutta Zoological G ardens, as well as in the museum there, I noticed a 

 variety of C. palustris which had a very distinct shield within which the six 

 nuchal plates were disposed. The superintendent of the gardens, when I 

 spoke to him about this, said he had noticed it, but could give no information 

 on the subject. 



