THE CROCODILIANS 71 



creature runs for the sheltering, muddy current. From 

 the agihty displayed by even the most gigantic individ- 

 uals, man must consider himself fortunate that this 

 mammoth reptile is seldom or never hostile to him. Its 

 prey consists largely of fish. 



As is the case with a number of Indian reptiles, it is 

 difficult to procure the Gavial for observation in a cap- 

 tive state. A maze of fascination surrounds the reptile 

 life of delightfully mysterious India; the weird and 

 varied forms, the flashing, or, to the extreme, sinister 

 colors; the colossal proportions of wide-awake brutes 

 more dangerous than the royal tiger, down to pigmy 

 forms, totally blind, burrowing deep into the ground — 

 looking at them collectivelj^ they appear to form a rep- 

 tile world by themselves beyond the comprehension of a 

 single human lifetime devoted to them. 



Mr. Lorenze Hagenbeck informs the writer that a 

 friend shot a Gavial thirty feet long. The gigantic 

 carcass was fully three feet in diameter. As it bloated 

 under a tropical sun it appeared like a stranded whale. 

 Carl Hagenbeck has furnished most of the few Gavials 

 exhibited in zoological institutions. Capture depends 

 largely upon strategj^ It is comparatively easy to 

 catch an animal that has foolishly taken up its abode in 

 a shallow, inland basin. After it is noosed it is dragged 

 into a crate where it must subsist for some Aveeks without 

 water other than an occasional dash thrown from a pail 

 — and without food, as an infuriated reptile is in no 

 mood to take nourishment; moreover, it generally fasts 

 for some months after being placed in a commodious 

 tank. 



There is nothing striking about the general structure 

 of the Gavial's body — it is the head which concentrates 

 immediate attention. From in front of the eyes the 



