Sept. 2 

 1922 



BARBOUR — CHINESE ALLIGATOR 33 



that natural selection might explain the survival but never the 

 arrival of a character, and that some cumulative and more mechan- 

 ical or physical process passed on by inheritance must be invoked. 

 The important feature here is the conservative coloration con- 

 trasted with the various differences in structure which have 

 arisen since the two alligators parted company. In these crea- 

 tures color plays little part in their welfare. Their enemies are 

 few, and as long as they are not so markedly conspicuous that 

 their prey becomes more difficult to capture, color and pattern 

 are probably in no wise brought into desirable variability. The 

 Chinese species, at present at any rate smaller in size, has de- 

 veloped somewhat better armor and somewhat more powerful 

 jaws than its American congener. 



Mr. Wulsin's notes, based on Mr. Ho's experiences, show that 

 all the 'gators were caught in their dens in the mud. We are 

 told, with true Chinese precision, that each den has three holes, 

 one for breathing (noisily), one for eating and one for sleeping! 

 We are further told that tortoises climb upon the alligators' 

 heads, thinking that they have found some inanimate support, 

 whereupon the 'gator opens his mouth, raising his head slowly 

 the while. The turtle foolishly keeps creeping upward and finally 

 having scrambled to the tip of the snout, a quick movement 

 causes it to lose its balance and fall within the hungry jaws. 

 Wulsin says that Mr. Ho swears this to be true, not that he has 

 ever seen it take place but because of the confirmatory accounts 

 of many credible witnesses. 



More interesting is the news that now, owing to persecution, 

 they do not crawl abroad to take the sun but emerge only at 

 night to hunt ashore for chickens or small dogs. 



The Chinese names are Yow lung and Tou lung, both combi- 

 nations signifying a dragon. 



In response to attempts to see whether perhaps the animal did 

 not survive elsewhere than just in the densely populated lower 

 Yangtze Valley, Wulsin gleaned the following. It may perhaps 

 be considered somewhat apocryphal. 



