12 The Naturalist in Nicaragua 
along under water. My informant and others followed in a 
canoe, and ultimately recovered the body, but life was 
extinct. The alligator cannot devour its prey beneath the 
water, but crawls on land with it after he has drowned it. 
They are said to catch wild pigs in the forest near the river 
by half burying themselves in the ground. The pigs come 
rooting amongst the soil, the alligator never moves until one 
gets within its reach, when it seizes it and hurries off to the 
river with it. They are often seen in hot weather on logs or 
sand-spits lying with their mouths wide open. The natives 
say they are catching flies, that numbers are attracted by 
the saliva of the mouth, and that when sufficient are collected, 
the alligator closes its jaws upon them, but I do not know 
that any reliance can be placed on the story. Probably it is 
an invention to account for the animals lying with their 
mouths open; as in all half-civilised countries I have visited 
I have found the natives seldom admit they do not know the 
reason of anything, but will invent an explanation rather 
than acknowledge their ignorance. 
