220 REPTILES

opens up the nest in order to set them free. There are
only three genera—Crocodilus, Alligator, and Gavialis.
The gavials, or gharials as they are now more usually
called, are distinguishable at once by their long,
narrow snouts. Their teeth are almost equal, and

 

HEAD OF A CROCODILE

the first and fourth in the lower jaw bite into grooves
in the upper jaw. The gharials are only found in
India, Borneo, and Northern Australia; they chiefly
feed on fish, and one of their striking mecul nies is
that the old males have what is practically an air-

 
   

 
  

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HEAD OF A GHARIAL

bladder at the tip of their nose, it being a sort of
knob at the end of the snout, containing a cavity
for the retention of air to enable them to remain
under water for a very much longer time than their
females or their young. Gharials are not very large