72 THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 



tough horny plates, not overlapping, but lying side by side 

 and joined together by a soft connecting skin. Over the 

 back and neck the covering is hard plates of bone (ridged 

 down the centre) lying in parallel rows and set in the soft 

 body skin. As the great reptile throws itself into the po- 

 sition of roaring body tightly inflated, throat puffed to its 

 fullest extent, head and tail up ; the central part of the body 

 sinks below the water with the uplifting of the head and tail, 

 and its entire body cavity is contracted with a series of 

 powerful spasmodic jerks. This contraction forces the air 

 with which its body is distended through the throat and out 

 the mouth which is open only from an inch to an inch and 

 one-half, and rapidly vibrates the membranous folds inside 

 the glottis causing a tremendous volume of sound. The 

 time it takes to give this roar covers perhaps three and 

 one-half to seven seconds ; beginning as a moderate tone and 

 increasing until the full volume of sound is reached and then 

 decreasing to the end. When this great sound is given, if 

 the alligator's body is entirely in the water, a phenomenon 

 occurs which is the most curious thing of its kind I have ever 

 witnessed. When the alligator throws its head and tail 

 above the surface of the water preparatory to giving its 

 roar, the central part of its body which had been above the 

 surface of the water, because of its having been greatly 

 distended with air, sinks below the surface, and the violent 

 muscular contraction of the body which forces the air out 

 of its mouth causing the roar, and which contraction is made 

 in spasmodic jerks, contracts the flexible skin of its sides so 

 violently that the water lying against this skin and between 

 the horny scales of the sides and edge of the back is driven 

 in jets above the surface for a couple of inches, in drops the 

 size of the end of one's little finger, giving exactly the im- 

 pression one gets when looking at a surface of smooth water 

 on which large drops of heavy rain are falling the drops 

 are seen bouncing into the air from the water. Small waves 

 also radiate in all directions as if heavy objects were being 



