Crocodile.—­The Portuguese in India, like the Spaniards 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, 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.

[Illustration:  SKULLS OF ALLIGATOR AND CROCODILE]

The instincts of the crocodiles in Ceylon do not lead to any variation from the habits of those found in other countries.  There would appear to be two well-distinguished species found in the island, the Eli-kimboola[1], the Indian crocodile, inhabiting the rivers and estuaries throughout the low countries of the coasts, attaining the length of sixteen or eighteen feet, and ready to assail man when pressed by hunger; and the marsh-crocodile[2], which lives exclusively in fresh water, frequenting the tanks in the northern and central provinces, and confining its attacks to the smaller animals:  in length it seldom exceeds twelve or thirteen feet.  Sportsmen complain that their dogs are constantly seized by both species; and water-fowl, when shot, frequently disappear before they can be secured by the fowler.[3] It is generally believed in Ceylon that, in the case of larger animals, the crocodile abstains from devouring them till the commencement of decomposition facilitates the operation of swallowing.  To assist in this, the natives assure me that the reptile contrives to fasten the carcase behind the roots of a mangrove or some other convenient tree and tears off each piece by a backward spring.

[Footnote 1:  Crocodilus biporcatus. Cuvier.]

[Footnote 2:  Crododilus palustris, Less.]

[Footnote 3:  In Siam the flesh of the crocodile is sold for food in the markets and bazaars, “Un jour je vis plus de cinquante crocodiles, petits et grands, attaches aux colonnes de leurs maisons.  Ils es vendent la chair comme on vendrait de la chair de porc, mais a bien meilleur marche."-PALLEGOIX, Siam, vol. i. p. 174.]