70 Dr. A. Voeltzkow on the Oviposition and 
the embryonic membranes are torn off at the edges of the 
opening and are left behind in the egg. 
The just-hatched young are of considerable size, and it is 
afterwards difficult to understand how they could have found 
room in the egg. For instance, an egg 8 centim. in length 
by 5 centim. in breadth produced a young crocodile of 28 
centim. These young animals are very savage from the first ; 
they snap at the finger if one attempts to pick them up, &c. 
They frequently make a noise, especially when they are 
hungry. This fact had long been known tome. The note 
is not so high as that produced by the young in the egg. It 
sounds pretty much like the ery of our fire-bellied toad (Bom- 
binator igneus), but is somewhat louder ; it is repeated six or 
seven times, followed by a pause. Some young crocodiles 
which I have been observing for about a fortnight in a pool 
I have not heard to utter any cries during the last day or 
two. Besides this the animals make a spitting noise if they 
are irritated, e. g. when they are held up by the tail. 
Hatching is not directly dependent upon the setting in of 
the rainy season, and is not occasioned by the increased 
moisture of the ground, since the greater number of pits con- 
tained empty egg-shells about a fortnight before the occur- 
rence of the first fall of rain. Development in the egg takes 
about three months. It was in the middle of November that 
I received information that the first newly-hatched young had 
been observed. 
The newly laid egg exhibits the following characteristics. 
As has been remarked above, the form and size of the egg 
are variable, and it possesses a hard and coarsely granulated 
shell. Immediately beneath this lies the thick and tough 
shell-membrane, which is so resistant that the egg retains its 
form after the removal of the shell. This shell-membrane 
consists of two layers, a thicker external and a more delicate 
internal one. It is possible with a little care to peel off the 
external layer in large pieces. 5S. F. Clarke * states that the 
shell-membrane of the alligator is attached to the shell in a 
ring-shaped zone in the direction of the smaller diameter, and 
that even from outside the egg appears to be encircled by a 
readily distinguishable white zone. Nothing of this is to be 
seen in the perfectly fresh eggs of the crocodile. Crocodile 
egos which presented this appearance underwent no further 
development. 
The albumen is of about the same consistency as jelly, some- 
times has a greenish lustre, and is so tough that, after care- 
* §, F. Clarke, “The Nest and Eggs of the Alligator, Alhgator lucwus, 
Cuv.,” Zool. Anzeiger, 1888, no, 290, p. 568. 
