OF EECENT CROCODILIANS. 131 



which is confined to the rivers in the interior of the country. The Coombeer or Muggar 

 ascends the rivers to the mountains, where the water is often frozen. The Ghurrial, on 

 the contrary, is confined to the lower level, where the climate is warm. 



In stating tliat there are three species of Crocodiles in India, I only intend to state 

 there are three distinct forms ; for I will not undertake to say for certain that the 

 Muggar of Ceylon, of Siam, and of India are not distinct species. 



Mr. Blyth observes, " Both the Gangetic species of Crocodiles have been received by 

 the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, from Java. The Crocodiles are known to abound in 

 Timor, from which island they may well have passed to Australia. Governor Grey met 

 with them in the north-west." — Blyth, Eep. Austral. Vert, in Mus. A. S. C. 



If by " both the Gangetic species of Crocodile " Mr. Blyth means the estuarine Croco- 

 dile {Oopholis porosus) and the Coombeer or Muggar {Bombifrons indicus), no example 

 of the latter animals from either Java, Timor, or Australia has occurred to me, and the 

 animal figured as Crocodilus raninus by Dr. Salomon Muller is certainly Oopholis jiorosus ; 

 and there is in the British Museum a fine adult skull of that species sent by the Leyden 

 Museum from Java. 



The observations of MM. Dumeril and Bibron (Erp. Gen. 25, 47), that Crocodiles are 

 not. found in Australia, and that the American Crocodiles are confined to the islands of 

 that continent, are no longer consistent with facts ; indeed, long before the publication 

 of their work, various travellers had recorded the occurrence of Crocodiles on the north 

 coast of Australia. 



The estuarine Oo])holis porosus was observed by Governor Grey on the north-west 

 coast of Australia. There is in the British Museum a skull of the species sent thence, 

 and also a full-grown specimen which was killed and preserved in that country. 



The Island of Borneo is inhabited by a false Garial, named Tomistoma schlegelii. 

 I am not aware that it has been found in any of the other islands of the archipelago. 

 It is intermediate in character between the true Garial and the Crocodiles. 



The Crocodiles and Alligators are widely distributed in America. There are four 

 American Crocodiles, and nine Alligators. One of the Crocodiles, Palinia rliomUfer, 

 is peculiar to the island of Cuba. The other species of Crocodiles and the Alligators 

 are found on the mainland. The Alligator mississippensis is found far north, where the 

 waters are often frozen ; all the other Alligators and American Crocodiles are confined 

 to the tropical and subtropical parts of the continent. Molinia americana is found in 

 Cuba and St. Domingo, as well as in the rivers of the east and west side of the conti- 

 nent, showing the incoiTectness of the assertion of MM. Dumeril and Bibron that the 

 Crocodiles of America are confined to the islands of that continent (Erp. Gen. 25, 47}'. 



» ' In the ' Gentleman's Magazine ' for August 1866 appears an article, entitled " Notes on a Yoi^ng Crocodile 

 found in a Farmyard at Over Norton, Oxfordshire," by George K. Wright, F.S.A. Mr. Wright observed the 

 specimen in a case of birds and animals, preserred by Mr. William Phillips, who said that it was found lying 

 dead in a gutter in his farmyard, evidently but lately killed j its bowels protruded from a wound in the belly. 



