26 The Alligator and Its Allies 



The average long diameter was 73.742 mm.; the 

 average short diameter was 42.588 mm. 



The greatest variation in long diameter in any 

 one nest of eggs was 15.5 mm.; the greatest varia- 

 tion in short diameter in the eggs of any one nest 

 was ii mm. 



The average variation in the long diameter of 

 the eggs from the same nest was 11.318 mm.; the 

 average variation in the short diameter of the 

 eggs from the same nest was 5.136 mm. 



It will be seen from the above that the average 

 variation in the long diameter of eggs from the 

 same nest is between one sixth and one seventh of 

 the long diameter of the average egg; while the 

 average variation in the short diameter of the eggs 

 from the same nest is less than one eighth of the 

 short diameter of the average egg. 



S. F. Clarke 1 gives the limits of the long diameter 

 as 50 mm. and 90 mm., and the maximum and 

 minimum short diameters as 45 mm. and 28 mm. 

 No such extremes in size were noticed among the 

 eight hundred or more eggs that were examined. 



Economic Importance. 2 More than one hundred 

 years ago attempts were made to utilize the skin 

 of the alligator, but it was not until about 1855 

 that these attempts were successful and alligator 

 leather became somewhat fashionable and some 



1 Journal of Morphology, vol. v. 



2 The following figures are from an article by C. H. Stevenson in the 

 Report of the Bureau of Fisheries, 1902, pp. 283-352. 



