200 A COLLECTOR-S EXPERIENCES 



tlie owner of wliicli is scampering off with the speed 

 of the wind, never to stop until secure. 



Spring is the proper time to collect lizards, as 

 during this season the vegetation is sparse, and the 

 reptiles, intent in their enjoyment of the sunshine, 

 are less cautious. In South Carolina, where several 

 species of showj lizards are abundant, tlie writer 

 collected many specimens during the early spring 

 months by stripj^ing the bark from dead ti'ees where 

 the reptiles, which were quite inactive, had passed 

 the winter. In the same district, a few weeks later, 

 many lizards representing the species collected were 

 seen, but they eluded caj^ture in nearly every in- 

 stance. 



Although ponderous and exceedingly powerful in 

 proportion to their size, alligators and crocodiles are 

 easily caught by baiting a powerful hook with flesh, 

 fastening it to a rope, and placing it in the lairs of 

 the saurians. Since they are exceedingly tenacious 

 of life and survive injuries which would immediately 

 prove fatal to warm-blooded animals, the superficial 

 wound made by the hook heals within a few days 

 and causes the reptile no inconvenience. Better 

 than this, however, is the practise of stealthily ap- 

 proaching these reptiles as they lie sleeping, and 

 noosing them with a strong rope. In this fashion 

 the thirteen-foot alligator " Big Mose," now in the 

 reptile house of the ]^ew York Zoological Park, was 

 taken. 



Many of our local reptiles, owing to their shy 

 and retiring habits, are diflicult to discover. The 



