1915.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 137 



distinguish them by the intervals, which are much shorter in the 

 3'ounger ones. Mr. Harper saw a five-foot aUigator at the north 

 edge of the swamp with his jaws tied with a cord which for several 

 days it could not break. liater he observed that Bryant Lee could 

 hold shut the two jaws of a wounded "gator." 



Since these animals were found in every part of the swamp, no 

 mention of particular localities is of importance. They were most 

 abundant, perhaps, in Billy's Lake, in Floyd's Island and Honey 

 Island Prairies and in the head waters of the Suwanee River. 

 " 'Gator holes," however, were to be seen in all waters deep enough 

 to afford seclusion for the animals. These holes ranged in size 

 from a few feet across to large areas extending from 25 to 75 yards^ 

 in diameter. Throughout the swamp and in the prairies, also, were 

 long open tracts in which no water-lilies grew, and these were pro- 

 nounced by the natives to be " 'gator trails." 



The methods of hunting the alligator, as practised by the Lees- 

 and other inhabitants of the region, consist mainly of going out at 

 night in small boats and locating the animals by means of a lamp- 

 fastened to the head of one hunter in the bow of the boat. Another 

 hunter in the stern paddles or poles and uses the sharp end of the 

 push pole to "stick" the body after the animal has been shot and 

 has sunk to the bottom. According to these hunters, who every 

 year take but a large number of skins, the eyes of the small alligators 

 appear red by the light thus used, while those of the large specimens 

 are yellow. The hunter carrying the light swings his head from side 

 to side through an arc of 180 degrees, and when an alligator is sighted 

 shoots it by the light of the lamp on his head. The common sup- 

 position that the skin of an alligator will turn the bullet of a gun is, 

 of course, unfounded. Since, however, only the head of the animal 

 is usually exposed when it is in the water, they are commonly shot 

 through the eyes. The hunters generally use a shotgun loaded 

 with buckshot. That a large number of alligators are annually 

 secured in this manner is evidenced by the fact that the fields of 

 the Lees are strewn with the skeletons and dorsal strips of skin which 

 have been thrown away after each expedition. Only the ventral 

 part of the skin is saved, the upper portions being too thick and 

 spiny to admit of the primitive methods of tanning, and therefore 

 the crest and dorsal scales are not retained. 



Plenty of evidence was secured to prove that the alligator is a 

 formidable antagonist when in the water. The powerful tail is the 

 chief weapon of defence, and with it the animal can deal a terrifie 



