222 REPTILES

struction was a plague of rodents, which nearly ruined
the agriculturists. The agriculturists thereupon made
the matter a political one, and thus it has come about
that the Government of Florida has decreed a close
time for A. mzsszsseppzensts.

The crocodiles are found not Spin in Africa and
Southern Asia, but in tropical Australia and Central
America and the West Indies. They have a longer
head than the alligator, but their snout is much
broader and shorter than that of the gharials. Their
teeth are not regular, and while the first tooth in the
lower jaw bites into a pit, the fourth bites into a
notch or groove. The largest species (C. forosus) is
found in India and Australia, and is said to occa-
sionally exceed twenty feet in length. The African
crocodile (C. zz/otécus) is almost as large. The Indian
crocodile has been seen to hunt in packs. Mr. E. C.
Buck relates an instance of this which he observed
at the mouth of a small stream leading from some
inland lakes to the Ganges. ‘Towards dusk at the
same moment every one of them left the bank on
which they were lying, or the deep water in which
they were swimming, and formed a line across the
stream, which was about twenty yards wide. They had
to form a double line, as there was not room for all
in a single line. They then swam slowly up the
shallow stream, driving the fish before them, and
I saw two or three fish caught before they dis-
appeared.’

OPHIDIA.—The first thing that strikes one on
looking at a snake is that it has no visible limbs ; but
a moment’s consideration will show that the absence