1915.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 109 



could be seen, to-day scarcely one may be found. It seems a very wanton 

 destruction of life to kill so many of these large animals, especially when it is 

 remembered that a large alligator hide is worth to the hunter only about $1.50." 

 "Just how soon (if at all) the alligator is likely to be exterminated in our 

 Southern States it is impossible to say, but so long as those two great swampy 

 wastes, the Everglades and the Okefinokee, remain undrained, the great American 

 reptile is not hkely to become entirelj- extinct." 



Of this same form we have the very interesting account of Andrew 

 EUicott,"* who served as the United States Commissioner to determine 

 the boundary between Florida and Georgia in 1800. With tlie 

 Spanish Commissioner, he started up the St. Mary's January 23, 

 and returned March 3; and his mounds "A" and "B" have been 

 the subject of many memorials by both Florida and Georgia. He 

 writes : 



"This being the season that the Alligators, or American crocodiles were be- 

 ginning to crawl out of the mud and bask in the sun, it was a favorable time to 

 take them, both on account of their torpid state, and to examine the truth of the 

 report of their swallowing pine knots in the fall of the year to serve them, (on 

 account of their difficult digestion) during the term of their torpor, which is 

 probably about three months. For this purpose two Alligators of about eight 

 or nine feet in length were taken and opened, and in the stomach of each were 

 found several pine and other knots, pieces of bark, and in one of them some 

 charcoal; but exclusive of such indigestible matter, the stomachs of both were 

 empty. So far the report appears to be founded in fact; but whether these were 

 swallowed on account of their tedious digestion, and therefore proper during the 

 time those animals lay in the mud, or to prevent the collapse of the coats of the 

 stomach, or by accident owing to their voracious manner of devouring their 

 food, is difficult to determine. 



"The Alfigator has been so often, and so well described, and those descriptions 

 are so well known, that other attempts have become unnecessary. It may 

 nevertheless be proper to remark that so far as the human species are concerned, 

 the Alligators appear much le-is dangerous than has generally been supposed, 

 particularly by those unacquainted with them. And I do not recollect meeting 

 with but one well authenticated fact of any of the human species being injured 

 by them in that country, (where they are very numerous,) and that was a negro 

 near New Orleans, who while standing in the water sawing a piece of timber, had 

 one of his legs dangerously wounded by one of them. My opinion on this sub- 

 ject is founded on my own experience. I have frequently been a witness to 

 Indians, including men, women and children, bathing in rivers and ponds, where 

 those animals are extremely numerous, without any apparent dread or caution: 

 the same practice was pursued by myself and people, without caution, and 

 without injiuy. 



"Some of the Alligators we killed were very fat, and would doubtless have 

 yielded a considerable quantity of oil, which is probably almost the only use that 

 will ever be made of them; however their tails are frequently eaten by the Indians 

 and negroes, and Mr. Bowles informed me that he thought them one of the 

 greatest of delicacies. 



"The. Alligators appear to abound plentifully in musk, the smell of which is 

 sometimes perceptible to a considerable distance, when they are wounded or 

 killed; but whether the musk is contained in a receptacle for that purpose, and 

 secreted by a particular gland or glands, or generally diffused through the system 

 appears somewhat uncertain: and I confe.ss their appearance was so disagreeable 

 and offensive to me, that I felt no inclination to undertake the dissection of one 

 •of them." 



4 EUicott, Andrew. The Journal of, etc. Philadelphia, 1803. Pp. 276-278. 



