176 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 



article in question. The writer agreed to buy the animals and prepare 

 the flesh for cooking. 



Sufficient funds were collected to buy, of the Arkansas Alligator 

 Farm, two alligators, each about three feet in length. These were killed 

 by cutting the cord at the base of the skull, and the flesh of the entire 

 body was cut into pieces of suitable size for cooking. 



The meat was first parboiled (though the necessity for this was 

 doubtful) and was then fried in egg and cracker crumbs, very much 

 after the manner of a breaded veal cutlet. 



About thirty people, consisting of both men and women, mostly 

 school teachers, members of the university faculty, and college students, 

 partook of the repast, and all declared the meat to be "delicious." 



There was considerable difference of opinion as to what the meat 

 resembled: some thought it tasted like pork; some thought it like fish; 

 one person said it suggested lobster; but all declared it to be most 

 agreeable. 



Of course, at the prices charged by supply firms the cost of live 

 alligators would be prohibitive, but in the tropics, where crocodilia 

 are often extremely abundant, the flesh could be had at a very low cost. 



The writer has seen alligator hunters, in our southern states, throw 

 hundreds of pounds of alligator meat to the carrion crows and buzzards, 

 after removing the hides. 



Whether the Central and South American crocodiles would be as 

 pleasant for food as the Florida alligator the writer can not say. 



While the Crocodilia of this country are practically harmless to man, 

 there are one or two species found elsewhere of which this cannot by 

 any means be said. The African Crocodile, C. niloticus, for example, is 

 said to destroy more human lives than all other wild animals of the 

 Dark Continent combined; and the Salt Water Crocodile, C. porosus, 

 according to a British Blue-book, caused 244 deaths in British India 

 in the year 1910. The black caiman, Caiman niger, of South America 

 sometimes attacks small domestic animals and children; even grown 

 people may at times be attacked. 



