2376 CROCODILES, DINOSAURS, AND FLYING DRAGONS 



the fish therein. . . . It is then that you see and hear the alligator at his work; 

 each lake has a spot deeper than the rest, rendered so by these animals who work at 

 it; and always situated at the lower end of the lake." By this means a supply of 

 water is insured; and in these so-called alligators' holes the reptiles may be seen 

 congregating in hundreds. "The fish, that are already dying by thousands through 

 the insufferable heat and stench of the water, and the wounds of the different winged 

 enemies constantly in pursuit of them, resort to the alligators' hole to receive re- 

 freshment, with a hope of finding security also, and follow down the little current 

 flowing through the connecting sluices; but no! for, as the water recedes in the lake, 

 they are here confined. The alligators thrash them, and devour them whenever 

 they feel hungry, while the ibis destroys all that make toward the shore. By look- 

 ing attentively on this spot, you plainly see the tails of the alligators moving to and 

 fro, splashing, and now and then, when missing a fish, throwing it up in the air. 

 The hunter marks one of the eyes of the largest alligators, and as the hair trigger 

 is touched the alligator dies. Should the ball strike one inch astray from the eye, 

 the animal flounces, rolls over and over, beating furiously about him with his tail, 

 frightening all his companions, who sink immediately; while the fishes, like blades 

 of burnished metal, leap in all directions out of the water, so terrified are they at 

 this uproar." 



During the pairing season, which takes place in the spring, the males resort to 

 the land, and are but seldom seen; while soon after the female deposits her hard 

 white eggs, which are said at times to be upward of one hundred in number. The 

 nest in which the eggs are laid is generally placed among bushes or reeds, at a dis- 

 tance of fifty or sixty yards from the water's edge; the eggs themselves being care- 

 fully covered with leaves and other vegetable matter. The heat engendered by the 

 decomposition of the latter, aids in the hatching of the eggs; and when the young 

 appear, they are conducted to the water by the mother, who has all the time re- 

 mained on guard near the nest. 



In the middle and lower Tertiary deposits of both Europe and the 

 Double-Tusked T , . , _, . , , . 



.... United States, the present group was represented by certain extinct 



alligators (Diplocynodon) characterized by the presence of a bony 

 armor on the lower surface of the body, coupled with the circumstance that the 

 fourth tooth of the lower jaw was generally received into a notch in the side of the 

 skull, while the third lower tooth was as much enlarged as the fourth. Some of 

 these double-tusked alligators had short snouts, like their existing allies; but in 

 one from the London Clay this part of the skull was much produced, as in many 

 crocodiles. 



A small and short-nosed crocodile (Osteola:m?us tetraspis} from West 

 Stumpy 



Crocodile Africa, in the neighborhood of Sierra Leone, where it was discovered 



by Du Chaillu, presents much the same relationship to the true croco- 

 diles as is held by the alligators to the caimans. Thus, while the arrangement of 

 the teeth is similar to that obtaining in the true crocodiles, the nasal bones extend 

 forward to divide the cavity of the nostrils into two halves. Moreover, the upper 

 eyelid is largely bony, while there are detached bony plates on the lower surface of 

 the body, as well as on the throat. The shield of the neck is distinct from that of 



