This animal, which inhabits the Ganges and other rivers of northern India, is, with the possible exception of the preceding species, the largest of the Crocodilia; it is said to reach a length of thirty feet, which is twice that of a very large Florida alligator. As previously noted its snout is extremely long and narrow (Figs. 13 and 14), with a large, fleshy hump at the tip, that projects above the muddy water in which the animal lies concealed. It is a timid animal and, in spite of its huge size, dashes quickly into the water on the approach of man, to whom it is seldom or never dangerous. Its Indian name, _gharial_, from which its generic name has been corrupted, means fish-eater, since its food consists, it is said, largely if not entirely of fish. Considering its huge size and the character of its jaws and teeth as shown in Figures 13 and 14, it is fortunate that it prefers fish to human flesh. Anderson (2) describes the eggs and young of the Indian gavial. He found forty eggs in a nest of sand; they were in two layers, with a foot of sand between them. The young were 15.8 inches long at hatching. He says: “The young run with amazing rapidity the moment they are out of the shell.... Some of them actually bit my fingers before I had time to remove the shell from their bodies.” The following quotation from Oldenburg (46), for which I am indebted to Dr. Hussakof, is perhaps the earliest reference to the egg of the American alligator. It also mentions the habit that is practiced by some of the recent Crocodilia of swallowing stones to aid in digestion, as was apparently done by some of the large extinct reptiles. “The eggs of _Crocodiles_ and _Alligators_ are little bigger than a Turkey’s. I thought to bring one to England, but it was lost. I never broke any to see the Yolk and White; but the Shell is as firme and like in shape to a Turkey’s, but not spotted. I inquired into the Stone in the Stomach of a _Cayman_ or _Crocodile_, and I found by the inquiry of a very observing gentleman there, that they were nothing but several Stones, which that Creature swallows for digestion. He took out of one a piece of a Rock as big as his head: out of others he had taken sixteen or twenty lesser. None regards them much there, whatever _Monardes_ relateth.” CHAPTER II THE SKELETON A. THE EXOSKELETON The exoskeleton is well developed in the Crocodilia, and forms a very considerable protection to its bearer. It is both dermal and epidermal in origin.