72 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



snout extends forward in such slender fashion it might 

 be compared to an enormously elongated, flattened, 

 duck-like bill ; at the extreme tip is a swollen and lumpy 

 nob of flesh surmounted by the nostrils. Both upper 

 and lower of the long jaws are so studded with stout 

 though long and sharp-edged, close-set teeth, it would 

 seem as if Nature had been over-generous in the devel- 

 opment of the dentition — that food once mixed in the 

 array of shining enamel, far in front of the throat, could 

 not be worked or tossed back in a position to be swal- 

 lowed. Moreover, it looks dangerous for the animal 

 itself to quickly bring together such fang-studded man- 

 dibles. Nevertheless they close in a wonderful fashion, 

 the upper and lower teeth alternating, forming a close- 

 set, continuous row. A skull of a Gavial is strongly 

 suggestive of a frying-pan — the snout forming the 

 handle. 



The Malayan Gavial, Tomistoma schlegeli, inhabit- 

 ing Borneo and Sumatra, has a head very similar to the 

 Indian species. Several osteological characters — mainly 

 of the skull — place it in a separate genus. The species 

 grows to a length of fifteen feet. 



Leaving the Gavials we find before us the important 

 genus CrocodiluSj, containing the majority of the big, 

 plated reptiles composing the present family. Several 

 of the species rival the Indian Gavial in size; two of 

 them are alleged to grow larger. In the face of a 

 storm of crocodile tales it is best to make some allow- 

 ance for the excitement attending the spectacle of a 

 fifteen or eighteen-foot specimen rushing for cover, 

 usually resulting in a magnification of the functions of 

 hearing and sight on the part of the observer; his con- 

 sequent description is inevitably a warm one and may 

 be entertaining enough as simple conversation, but what 



