CHAPTER IX 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALLIGATOR 



(A . mis sis s ipp iensis} 

 INTRODUCTION 



WITH the exception of S. F. Clarke's well- 

 known paper, to which frequent refer- 

 ence will be made, practically no work 

 has been done upon the development of the 

 American alligator. This is probably due to the 

 great difficulties experienced in obtaining the nec- 

 essary embryological material. Clarke, some 

 twenty years ago, made three trips to the 

 swamps of Florida in quest of the desired ma- 

 terial. The writer has also spent parts of three 

 summers in the Southern swamps once in the 

 Everglades, once among the smaller swamps 

 and lakes of central Florida, and once in the Oke- 

 fmokee Swamp. For the first of these expeditions 

 he is indebted to the Elizabeth Thompson Science 

 Fund; but for the more successful trip, when 

 most of the material for this work was collected, he 



is indebted to the Smithsonian Institution, from 



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