Number 131 February 10, 192^; 



OCCASIONAL PAPERS OF THE MUSEUM OF 

 ZOOLOGY 



UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 



Ann Arbor, Michigan Published by the University 



THE CROCODILE IN FLORIDA 



By Thomas Barbour 



That curious genius, Rafinesque, one of the most surpris- 

 ing and versatile of naturahsts, by some hook or crook first 

 learned of the existence of a crocodile in Florida. His very 

 short notice is in an excessively rare number of the Kentucky 

 Gazette, of which a photostat copy, made in the Library of 

 Congress, is before me. There is another original copy in 

 the Library at Lexington, Kentucky. I believe Dr. Stejneger 

 first noticed this observation. It consists of a few brief lines 

 only : "Our alligators have not yet been well studied by real 

 Naturalists. I suspect that many species and varieties exist 

 in the Southern states. The most common species is the 

 Crocodilus liichis of Cuvier; there is a sharp snout alligator 

 in Florida which must be his Crocodilus aciitiis." (Kentucky 

 Gazette (n. s.), Vol. i, No. 29, July 18, 1822, p. 3, col. 2.) 

 Rafinesque almost surely had never seen a specimen, yet he 

 made an excellent surmise as to specific identity. The Florida 



