the North- American Alligator. 107 



and very remarkable for natural history. It seems 

 (he adds) almost all the class of animals called amphi- 

 bia by Dr. Linnaeus, when found in cold climates, 

 grow torpid during winter." 



In addition to the authority of Mr. Bossu, I may 

 here mention the following fact, which was commu- 

 nicated to me, about the year 1785, by a Mr. Gra- 

 ham, at that time a very intelligent student of medi- 

 cine, in the University of Pennsylvania : 



" The Alligator, having previously swallowed a 

 number of pine-knots, retires to his hole, where he 

 remains in a torpid state, during the severity of win- 

 ter. If killed at this season, these knots are found 

 highly polished by their trituration, one against the 

 other, in the animal's stomach, as I have, more than 

 once, heard from men of undoubted veracity, who 

 had been concerned in the fact. Indeed, this is so 

 notorious in those parts in which these creatures 

 abound, that the digestion of the alligator's stomach 

 is proverbial amongst the multitude, who deride its 

 insipidity in the choice of such food, though, I pre- 

 sume, this it does instinctively, for some purpose 

 unaccounted for by naturalists, and which, perhaps, 

 is beyond the limits of human ken." 



The fact, related by Mr. Graham, relates to the 

 alligator of the Carolinas, in which parts of the 

 United- States this animal is very common. By an- 

 other gentleman, I have been informed, that the pine- 

 knots which the alligators swallow are generally such 



