BEE VEN ESLANNUAL, “REPORT: 149 
HEAD OF FLORIDA CROCODILE. 
Many alligators never attain a length of much over seven or 
eight feet. These are stunted individuals that have had the mis- 
fortune to take up their abode in localities wherein food had 
become scarce, or presented little variety. Sometimes we find 
localities where there exist whole colonies made up of stunted 
members. It is possible to retard the growth of captive speci- 
mens by feeding them raw beef only, or a diet composed entirely 
of small fish, and excluding whole, warm-blooded prey, with its 
attendant bone nourishment. If the process is continued for 
several years’ time with a specimen about half grown, and then 
a miscellaneous and wholesome diet is substituted, the reptile will 
grow but little afterward and perhaps not at all, although it may 
become sexually mature and vigorous, and breed regularly. 
Like all crocodilians, the alligator constructs a regular nest by 
heaping up a great mound of twigs, dead grass and rushes, to- 
gether with fallen masses of the familiar hanging moss. The 
eggs, to a considerable number, are deposited well to the bottom 
of this mound, where the heat generated by the decomposing 
vegetation produces their development. The period of incubation 
appears to be lengthy, taking at least eight weeks. There is ap- 
parent variation in the egg-laying period. In Hampton County, 
South Carolina, the writer collected alligator eggs during the 
middle of August. The eggs collected at that time hatched 
during the following October. Through the courtesy of Dr. 
Albert M. Reese, of Syracuse University, however, the writer has 
