10 Field Museum of Natural History 



are based on stunted specimens, kept in water that is 

 too cold for them, and insufficiently fed. They are 

 able to live for a long time without food, but naturally 

 cannot be expected to grow under unfavorable condi- 

 tions. 



The use of alligator hides for leather has had a 

 curious history. Not much use of alligator leather was 

 made until 1855, when shoes and other objects made 

 from it were in fashion for a brief season, and a few 

 thousand skins were prepared. The leather went out of 

 fashion again in a short time, but during the Civil War, 

 the shortage of leather in the southern states led to a 

 renewed demand for alligator skins, this time chiefly 

 for boots and shoes. This use came to an end with 

 the war, as the leather is really unsuited for shoes. 

 The respite for the alligators, however, was a tempo- 

 rary one, for the leather again became fashionable 

 about 1896, for use in fancy slippers and boots, travel- 

 ling bags, pocketbooks, music rolls, etc. Since that 

 time, the demand for alligator skins has been a steady 

 one. It has been found that the skin of the back, the 

 so-called "horn back", which was formerly discarded, 

 can be tanned quite as well as that of the lower parts. 



The number of skins of crocodilians used in the 

 United States, as estimated by the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, was about 280,000, in 1902. This may be 

 considered an average figure for the preceding period, 

 but with the increasing scarcity of alligators, it has 

 probably decreased considerably since then. Of this 

 large number of skins, about 120,000 were those of 

 American alligators, the remainder being chiefly 

 crocodile skins from Mexico and Central America. 



Dr. A. H. Wright and W. D. Funkhouser, in their 

 notes on the alligator in the Okefinokee Swamp, give 

 a good account of what is probably the commonest 

 method of hunting. They write : 



"The methods of hunting the alligator, as prac- 



[34] 



