150 NEW YORK ZOOEROGICAL SOCIETY. 
fessor Cope’s “Crocodilians, Lizards, and Snakes of North 
America”: “Alligators grow very slowly. At fifteen years of 
age they are only two feet long. A twelve-footer may be reason- 
ably supposed to be seventy-five years of age.” 
Observations in the Reptile House have been very contrary 
to this theory. Keeper Snyder and the writer collected a large 
nest of alligator eggs in South Carolina, in August of 1900. The 
eggs numbered thirty-eight, and were about the size of hens’ 
eggs, only more elongated. These eggs were shipped to the 
Reptile House, packed in the material composing the original 
nest, and five of them hatched between October 8 and 14. From 
shaking during shipment, the remainder of the eggs failed to 
hatch. 
These young alligators measured, at the time of hatching, eight 
inches; each weighed one and three-eighths of an ounce. One 
year after hatching, they were again measured. ‘Their average 
length was eighteen inches, and their weight nine and one-quar- 
ter ounces. This showed an increase in length, in twelve months’ 
time, of ten inches and an increase of about seven and one-half 
ounces. 
In August of the past year, these specimens were again meas- 
ured. At that time their average length was twenty-three inches 
and the weight three pounds. Since that time they have grown 
rapidly, and the last measurement, taken March 5, 1903, showed 
them to average three feet, nine inches in length and to weigh 
fourteen pounds. These reptiles were at the time of this meas- 
urement only two and one-half years old; yet they had increased 
thirty-seven inches in length, and gained thirteen pounds, four- 
teen and three-eighth ounces in weight since hatching. 
From observations made in the South Carolina bayous by the 
writer, it would seem that the growth of wild alligators must 
be fully as rapid, if not more so, than the specimens reared in 
captivity. The females construct their nests near shallows teem- 
ing with fish, and in an atmosphere of heat and humidity. The 
young reptiles probably grow more rapidly when wild than when 
confined. Of course hibernation must be considered in the case 
of the wild reptile. During this period, growth must be very slow, 
or ceases altogether. Yet the writer has always noted that rep- 
tiles in captivity, no matter how elaborate may be the facilities 
for their care, or the voracity evinced by the reptiles themselves, 
never grow so rapidly as those in a wild state. Repeatedly has 
this been observed by comparing the young of wild and captive- 
bred snakes, the ages of which are easily distinguished by their 
