464 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



In the breeding season, the spring and early summer, the reptiles are very noisy 

 and bellow with thunder-like power. The eggs are deposited in some natural sandy 

 hillock, or in a mound of the reptile's own construction, the young, on hatching, at 

 once directing their course to the water. The eggs are often taken from the nests, 

 however, by tourists, and illegally mailed to northern friends, when they hatch in a 

 climate unsuited to their wants and usually die, though a few have been known to 

 take food and prosper. Adults seldom reach the length of twelve feet. The name 

 given by science is Alligator mississi2)piensis, the animal being found in that river as 

 far north, though rarely, as the Ohio. 



The Orinoco cayman, Jacare nigra, was the animal with which Waterton had the 

 struggle so geographically described in his " Wanderings." It seems that the natural- 

 ist desired a specimen for dissection, and hence one mutilated as little as possible. 

 One of the reptiles was first caught by a cleverly devised hook, and, when drawn on 

 the bank, was mounted by Waterton, as he would mount an English Imnter, the rep- 

 tile's fore feet and legs serving as reins. It is needless to say that it was only by the 

 exercise of considerable skill that the naturalist kept his seat, though he finally suc- 

 ceeded in exhausting the furious reptile. An old hunter and fisherman in southern 

 Louisiana assured me that in a similar manner he had captured alligators for showmen. 



Closely allied to the now existing crocodiles was the genus Tlioracosauriis, inhab- 

 iting, in cretaceous times, the shores of New Jersey, as well as the coast of France, 

 and resembling to no little extent the Indian gavial. T. neoccesariensis, once inhabit- 

 ing the moi-e eastern portions of our continent, was one of the largest species. The 

 Teleosaurus, from earlier deposits, had the jaws greatly elongated, ccnsiderably ex- 

 ceeding, in proportional length, those of the gavial of to-day, and armed with long 

 sharp teeth, which enabled them to capture and retain fishes, the only large verte- 

 brates inhabiting the Jurassic seas suitable for food. Goniopholis crassidens resem- 

 bled the Teleosauri in having biconcave vertebrte, though its teeth resembled those 

 of the existing crocodiles. 



The Belodontidve, though at first considered otherwise, now hold an important 

 position in the present order. Belodon lepturvs, the largest of tlie genus, reached a 

 length of ten feet, and was strong and stout. It lived on the American shores during 

 the triassio period, and was, judging from the posterior position of its nostrils, and 

 probably webbed feet, an aquatic feeder, searching with its elongated snout below 

 the surface for such unfortunate animals as might come within its reach, while respi- 

 ration was still maintained, as a result of the nostrils being placed almost as far 

 back as the eyes. This genus includes the earliest known representatives of the order. 

 Remains are found in the European as well as in American deposits. 



Order X. — DINOSAURIA. 



In this extinct order appears a seiies of reptiles, some of most gigantic size, 

 though many are small, which are of particular interest to the systematic zoologist, as 

 many forms, on examination, are seen to possess peculiarities of structure which point 

 towards the lower birds, while others have many points of structure in common with 

 the mammals. The avian peculiarities are not merely superficial, the pelvis and hind 

 limb is remarkably bird-like, and is often of a development which justifies naturalists 

 in considering the reptiles to have been biped, a supposition confirmed by the three- 

 toed tracks of the Connecticut valley. We have consequently in the Reptilia a 



