121 



ALLIGATOR. 



ALLIGATOR. 



neck at the other. Each of the cervical vertebrae has on either side a 

 species of false rib, and their meeting at the extremities along the whole 

 neck completely hinders the animal from turning its head to either side, 

 and renders all its movements stiff and constrained. Neither is the pace 

 of the crocodiles on land so swift as to make them objects of fear to 

 ordinary quadrupeds ; a man can easily outstrip them, and so sensible 

 are these animals of their own inferiority in this respect, that they 

 immediately retreat to their more congenial element upon the most 

 distant appearance of the human species. 



The other general characters of the crocodiles and alligators consist 

 in their long flat heads, thick neck and bodies, protected by regular 

 transverse rows of square bony plates or shields, elevated in the 

 centre into keel-shaped ridges, and disposed, on the back of the neck, 

 into groups of different forms and numbers, according to the species. 

 The mouth is extremely large, extending considerably behind the eyes, 

 and furnished in each jaw with a single row of conical teeth, all of 

 different sizes, and standing apart from one another : these are hollow 

 within, and never vary in number, but are successively pushed out and 

 replaced by others of larger dimensions, as the animals increase in age 

 and size. The tongue is short and fleshy, and attaches to the under 

 jaw throughout its whole extent. It is consequently incapable of 

 protrusion, and from its small size and backward position seldom seen 

 even when the animal opens its mouth, which circumstance occasioned 

 the belief so universally prevalent among the ancients, that the croco- 

 dile was altogether deprived of this organ. The eyes are placed on 

 the upper surface of the skull, are much approximated towards one 

 another, and provided each with three distinct lids : the nostrils form 

 a long narrow canal, placed at the extremity of the muzzle ; the ears 

 are closed externally by two fleshy valves, and beneath the throat are 

 two small pouches or glands, which open externally and contain a 

 musky substance. Finally, the feet are provided with five toes before, 

 long and separate, and four behind, more or less perfectly united by 

 membranes : of these, the three interior alone on each foot are pro- 

 vided with claws, so that the two outer toes on the fore-feet, and one 

 on the hind, are constantly clawless. 



llnljtii of the Alligator. It is reported by Pliny, that the Egyptian 

 crocodile retires to a secret cave or hiding-place, on the approach of 

 winter, and spends three or four of the coldest months in a state of 

 lethargy, and without taking any food : this phenomenon, usually 

 called cybernation, is almost universal among reptiles and serpents, 

 at least in temperate and high latitudes, and has been repeatedly 

 observed with regard to the alligators. On the approach of the cold 

 season these animals bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of 

 some stagnant pond, where they remain concealed and inactive till 

 the return of spring. Travellers assure us that they are never to be 

 found in running streams, but that they frequent in preference some 

 stagnant pond or the creeks of large rivers. Here they may be seen 

 in almost countless multitudes, for they are extremely numerous in 

 the remote unfrequented parts of South America, protruding their 

 large flat heads through the leaves of the Ifymp/uea, Pontederia, and 

 other aquatic plants which cover the surface of the water, and 

 watching for prey ; or sometimes basking in the sun or sleeping on 

 the banks. They never come on shore, except during the hottest 

 part of the day, and always retire to the water on the approach of 

 night, during which time they are extremely active in search of 

 prey. Their food consists principally of fish, and it is conjectured 

 liv Home physiologists, that the musky fluid, secreted by the glands 

 under the throat, acts as a kind of bait to attract their prey. The 

 alligators are seldom known to attack the human species, unless in 

 defence of their eggs or young; the females of these reptiles are 

 reported to exhibit a much stronger degree of maternal affection for 

 their offspring than usually belongs to their class. They generally 

 lay from fifty to sixty eggs hi one place, of about the same size as 

 those of a goose, which they cover up with sand, and leave to be 

 hatched by the heat of the sun; never however removing to any 

 great distance. When the young ones come forth, they are about 

 five or six inches long, and are immediately conducted to the 

 water by the female alligator. Seldom more than half the entire 

 brood live to reach the water. Many are destroyed while in the egg. 

 The vultures waylay and watch the female alligator when she goes 

 ashore to deposit her eggs, which they scratch up and devour as soon 

 as she retires. Numbers of them also fall a prey to the grown males 

 of then- own species, and to various descriptions of ravenous fishes 

 which greedily devour them. The Indians eat the flesh of the 

 alligators, notwithstanding its strong musky flavour ; and even Euro- 

 peans, who have succeeded in overcoming their prejudices so far as to 

 partake of it, report it to be both delicate and savoury. A single 

 peculiarity of habit seems to distinguish the alligators from the real 

 crocodiles : the former never leave the fresh water, whilst the latter 

 are known to frequent the mouths of large rivers, and even to pass 

 between different islands, at considerable distances from one another ; 

 and so perfectly i this characteristic of the two sub-genera, that the 

 crocodile of the West India Islands differs from all the other American 

 species, and exhibits only those modifications which properly belong 

 to those of the OM World. 



It was only at the commencement of the present century that the 

 different species of alligators were properly distinguished from one 

 another, or even that they were suspected to be specifically different 



from the crocodile of the Nile. This distinction is entirely due to the 

 late Baron Cuvier, and since the publication of the first edition of his 

 work ' Sur les Ossemeus Fossiles ' little further addition has been 

 made to the subject. He enumerates three species, which he has 

 definitely characterised ; and describes a fourth, which he suspects to 

 be distinct, but of which he did not at that time possess a sufficient 

 number of specimens to enable him to determine the question. 



1. The Alligator (Crocodilus Lucius, Cuvier) properly so called, 

 which inhabits the fresh waters of the Carolinas, the Mississippi, and 

 other southern parts of the United States, and of whose fierceness and 

 voracity Bartram has related such extraordinary accounts. It grows, 

 according to Catesby, to the length of 14 or 15 feet, the head being 

 one-seventh of the entire length, and half as broad at the articulation 

 of the jaws as it is long. It appears to be more fierce and voracious . 

 than the South American species, often attacks men and quadrupeds 

 whilst bathing or crossing the rivers, and is even said to prefer the 

 flesh of the negro to all other food ; probably because the slave is 

 more exposed to its attacks than his master. The alligators prey 

 chiefly by night ; they assemble in vast numbers, besetting the mouth 

 of some retired creek into which they have previously driven the fish, 

 and bellowing so loud that they may be heard at the distance of a 

 mile. To catch the fish they dive under the shoal, and having 

 secured one, rise to the surface, toss it into the air to get rid of 

 the water which they necessarily 

 take in along with it, and catch it 

 again in its descent. When how- 

 ever they succeed in capturing a land 

 animal, which is too large to be 

 swallowed at a single mouthful, they 

 conceal the body beneath the bank 

 till it begins to putrefy, for as their 

 teeth are not formed for cutting 

 or masticating, they are unable to 

 tear the tough flesh in its fresh state ; 

 it is then dragged on shore and 

 devoured at leisure. When about 

 to lay, the female digs a deep hole 

 in the sand, and deposits her 

 eggs in layers, separated from one 

 another by intervening strata of 

 leaves and dry grass. It would 

 appear that she lays only one batch 

 of eggs during the same season, 

 though in the hotter parts of South 

 America, it the report of Laborde 

 is to be depended on, the Cayman, 

 or alligator of Surinam and 

 Cayenne, lays at two or even three 

 different periods of the year; but Cervical Plate, of Alligator. 

 as each batch is said to consist of only twenty or twenty-fire eggs, ii; 

 is probable that the whole does not exceed the number usiially 

 assigned to the common alligator. The female of this latter species, 

 it is said, never loses sight of her nest till the young are hatehed, and 

 for months afterwards affords them the most unremitting care and 

 protection. 



This species is frequently found up the Mississippi higher than the 

 Red River. In general, the alligator of North America buries himself 

 under the mud, at the bottom of the swamps and marshes which he* 

 inhabits, as soon as the cold weather fairly sets in, and continue* in a- 

 lethargic sleep till the return of spring. During the very severe frosts, 

 sensation is so completely suspended, that the body of the animal may 

 be cut into slices without dispelling his lethargy ; yet it is never actually 

 frozen, and the partial return of a few hours' bright sunshine is at all 

 times sufficient to restore suspended animation. It is particularly iu 

 the rivers, lagoons, and swamps of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, 

 and Louisiana, that the alligator reaches his greatest dimensions. 

 Bartram found immense numbers of alligators and fish in a mineral 

 spring near the Musquito River, in Florida, though the water, at its 

 exit from the earth, was nearly at the boiling point, and strongly 

 impregnated with copper and vitriol. 



Besides the characters common to all the American crocodiles, this 

 species exhibits the following modifications which distinguish it from 

 others : The snout is flattened on its upper surface, and slightly turned 

 upwards at the extremity ; the sides of it are nearly parallel, and the 

 nose forms a regular parabolic curve. It was this similarity to the 

 head of a pike that gave to the present species the name of Crocodilus 

 Lucius, or the Pike-Headed Crocodile. The internal rini of the orbits 

 is large and protuberant, but without being united by a transverse crest 

 as in the Crocodilus sderops, or Spectacled Alligator. The external 

 openings of the nostrils are separated by a long knob ; the skull has 

 two shallow, oblique, oval pits, in the bottom of which are two small 

 holes. On the back of the neck are four principal plates, elevated in 

 the centre into keel-shaped ridges ; and in front and rear of these 

 respectively, two smaller ones of similar form. The back exhibits 

 18 transverse rows of similar plates, the first with only two crests or 

 ridges, then two with four, afterwards three with six, then six with 

 eight, then again two with six, and finally, the last four rows with foul- 

 crests each. The ridges or crests on the body are of nearly equal size ; 



