THE HOME OF THE ALLIGATOR 365 



THE HOME OF THE ALLIGATOE 



By Professor A. M. REESE 



UNIVERSITY OF WEST VIRGINIA 



IT has twice been my privilege to visit the wilds of Florida under 

 the auspices of scientific societies, the first trip being to the 

 Everglades, while the second expedition, under the auspices of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, took me to the flat-wood and prairie regions 

 in the center of the state, far from railroads and other signs of 

 civilization. 



From the pleasant little town of Orlando, with its orange groves and 

 numerous small lakes, we plunged almost immediately into the " piney- 

 woods," where the road is scarcely more than a trail, and is strewn with 

 numberless huge pine cones that produce constant and nerve-racking 

 jolting to passing vehicles. 



For about thirty miles we drove, slowly on account of heavy loads, 

 through the pines, where but few and widely separated houses, and no 

 villages, worthy of the name, were to be seen. The monotony and lone- 

 liness of these almost perfectly level forests, broken only by an occa- 

 sional cypress swamp, sluggish stream, or tiny cabin, becomes, to one 

 accustomed to a thickly-settled, rolling country, quite oppressive; and 

 we were glad to come suddenly to the edge of the forest where we could 

 look out for miles upon the open prairie. The prairie proved to be 

 much more interesting, though no less lonely, than the pine woods. 

 The ground is here covered with either grass, upon which large herds 

 of cattle feed, or with the " scrub palmetto " which is, apparently, 

 gradually spreading its useless foliage over the entire prairie. 



These scrub palmettoes, especially where they grow in taller, denser 

 groups, are the home of numerous diamond rattle-snakes, the most 

 deadly of American reptiles. As we drove past the palmettoes we 

 frequently saw, and always captured alive if possible, these deadly 

 rattlers, my guide being very expert and perfectly fearless in handling 

 them. If they were coiled when found, he would simply reach out his 

 hand slowly and pick them up by the back of the neck, sometimes 

 attracting their attention by dangling a handkerchief in front of their 

 eyes with one hand while he seized them with the other. If they 

 attempted to escape, he would tap them with a carriage whip until he 

 made them crawl where he could get at them easily. It is remarkable 

 the amount of teasing and rough handling to which a rattler will sub- 

 mit without attempting to bite. His rattle may whirr violently and 



