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174 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 



threw a blinding beam of light far across the swamp into the eyes of the 

 unsuspecting 'gator, which usually remained fascinated until it could 

 be approached to within easy range. A shotgun at close range, of 

 course, blows off nearly the entire top of the animal's head and kills 

 it instantly; it is then seized before it sinks out of reach and is either 

 taken into the boat or dragged upon the bank to be collected with others 

 in the early morning. 



In daylight, with no glaring light to hypnotize it, the alligator is 

 difficult to approach within range and it usually disappears into its 

 cave before the hunter can get a shot at it. The daylight hunter, 

 then, should be supplied not, of course, with a light, but with a 10- 

 or 1 5-foot pole with a large iron hook at the end. If the alligator 

 be vigorously prodded with this mammoth fish-hook he will usually 

 finally seize it with his mouth and can be pulled out of his hole alive. 

 It is then an easy matter to kill him with a bullet through the base of the 

 brain. I have seen an 8-foot alligator thus killed with a little .22 

 calibre "cat" rifle. An 8-foot alligator will often be all that two 

 men can manage to drag out of his cave in this way; and, in the torrid 

 heat of the southern swamp, this violent exercise is not to the liking 

 of the usually not very energetic hunter. 



While the manufacture of leather gives or gave the chief value to the 

 alligator there are other ways in which it has some economic importance. 

 Chief of these is probably the sale of alligator goods to tourists. In 

 1891 there were in Jacksonville, Florida, twelve dealers in live and 

 stuffed alligators. In 1 890, 8400 alligators were sold to tourists, the price 

 for the live animals varying from $10 to $35 per hundred. For in- 

 dividual animals of the smallest size (less than 12 inches long) 

 the price is usually from 50 cents to $i. For a 3-foot alligator 

 the price is generally $3 to $5; for sizes over 3 feet $2 per foot 

 may be charged, though for very large specimens the price may be 

 from $50 to $300 each. 



Besi'des the live and stuffed animals, the teeth are polished and sold 

 as souvenirs; about 450 pounds of teeth were sold in 1890, at a price 

 varying from $i to $2 per pound. From 75 to 200 teeth will 

 make a pound. 



In 1891 about forty people, in addition to the regular dealers, were 

 engaged, in the United States, in stuffing alligators, polishing teeth, etc. 

 The teeth are extracted by burying the head until decomposition sets in. 



