Chap. IX.] 
CROCODILES. 
283 
niards in South America, affixed the name of lagarto to 
the huge reptiles that infested the rivers and estuaries of 
both continents ; and to the present day the Europeans 
in Ceylon apply the term alligator to what are in reality 
crocodiles, which literally swarm in the still waters and 
tanks in the low country, but rarely frequent rapid 
streams, and have never been found in the marshes 
among the hills. The differences, however, between the 
two, when once ascertained, are sufficiently marked, to 
prevent their being afterwards confounded. The head of 
the alligator is broader and the snout less prolonged, and 
the canine teeth of the under jaw T , instead of being received 
into foramina in the upper, as in the crocodile, fit into 
furrows on each side of it. The legs of the alligator, too, 
are not denticulated, and the feet are only semi-palmate. 
The following drawing exhibits a cranium of each. 
SKULLS OP ALLIGATOR AND CROCODILE 
The instincts of the crocodiles in Ceylon do not lead to 
