THIRTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT 69 
Owing to the addition of a number of species of snakes and 
lizards, it was often necessary to place several kinds together. 
Hence the system of labeling in the Reptile House is being 
rapidly changed. Hereafter picture labels will take the place of 
the plain ones, in order that the visitor may immediately iden- 
tify the various exhibits. From the time of the opening of the 
Park nine years ago, the public has continually evinced a keen 
interest in the exhibit of the Reptile House, and the attendants 
are called upon to answer a great number of queries. It has 
steadily been the custom to answer on the labels the questions 
most frequently repeated, and the descriptive matter in the building 
is very complete. 
The alligators incubated and hatched in the Reptile House 
nine years ago have continued their rapid growth. Observa- 
tions of these specimens have been of much value. While of 
considerable importance, the rate of growth of the American alli- 
gator does not seem to have received much attention except 
under conditions so far removed from the normal as to be of little 
value. Our studies demonstrate that alligator farming is quite 
practical. The eggs are easily incubated, and the young grow fast 
enough to be marketable for their hides within a period of five 
years. It was previously imagined that it would take anywhere 
from eighteen to twenty-five years for a specimen to grow large 
enough to possess a marketable hide. 
With the exception of one alligator over twelve feet long, and 
several large crocodiles, the alligator colony passed the summer 
in the rock pool outside of the building. All the crocodilians 
grew substantially. In the pools of the Reptile House they form 
an imposing display. The specimens hatched and reared in the 
Park are now about eight feet long, indicating a growth of about 
one foot per year. 
After an eccentric career in captivity, extending over eighteen 
months, our largest regal python, captured on the Malay Penin- 
sula, has commenced feeding of her own accord. Her first vol- 
untary meal in the Park consisted of a pig weighing about thirty- 
five pounds, which was offered when freshly killed. For four- 
teen months this snake was fed, at intervals of about ten days 
apart, with two fresh-killed Belgian hares, sewed together with 
heavy twine, then pushed ten feet down her throat with a bam- 
boo pole while the snake was held by twelve keepers. Between 
times she was offered everything known on the menu of a python, 
but stubbornly refused food. Although a great relief to the 
members of the Reptile House staff, the news of this big snake 
