ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 149 



HEAD OF FLORIDA CROCODILE. 



Many alligators never attain a length of much over seven or 

 eight feet. These are stunted individuals that have had the mis- 

 fortune to take up their abode in localities wherein food had 

 become scarce, or presented little variety. Sometimes we find 

 localities where there exist whole colonies made up of stunted 

 members. It is possible to retard the growth of captive speci- 

 mens by feeding them raw beef only, or a diet composed entirely 

 of small fish, and excluding whole, warm-blooded prey, with its 

 attendant bone nourishment. If the process is continued for 

 several years' time with a specimen about half grown, and then 

 a miscellaneous and wholesome diet is substituted, the reptile will 

 grow but little afterward and perhaps not at all, although it may 

 become sexually mature and vigorous, and breed regularly. 



Like all crocodilians, the alligator constructs a regular nest by 

 heaping up a great mound of twigs, dead grass and rushes, to- 

 gether with fallen masses of the familiar hanging moss. The 

 eggs, to a considerable number, are deposited well to the bottom 

 of this mound, where the heat generated by the decomposing 

 vegetation produces their development. The period of incubation 

 appears to be lengthy, taking at least eight weeks. There is ap- 

 parent variation in the egg-laying period. In Hampton County, 

 South Carolina, the writer collected alligator eggs during the 

 middle of August. The eggs collected at that time hatched 

 during the following October. Through the courtesy of Dr. 

 Albert M. Reese, of Svracuse Universitv, however, the writer has 



