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, w r hen 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 



