HISTORY OF THE ALLIGATOR. 149 



iern Africa, before the American species had been dis- 

 covered. 



Alligators are, as one would say, ungainly, and even 

 ugly animals ; but they are not naturally ferocious ; they 

 kill only to eat, and they kill but one at a time. If indeed 

 the prey is so tough that they cannot break it by the pres- 

 sure of their jaws, they take it under water, and bury it 

 there till it becomes softened by partial putrefaction. In 

 these cases, the same unquenched hunger sends them to 

 look for more ; and they continue the process till they can 

 meet with something which can be eaten instanter. No 

 reptiles masticate or grind their food ; and few, if any, 

 give it a second bite. Their jaws close like the sides of a 

 spring-trap ; and if they do not enclose the whole of the 

 prey, the only way that the animal has of detaching the 

 portion which they do seize, in order to swalloXv it, is by 

 shaking it ; and when they are unable to accomplish this, 

 they bury it under water in the manner w r hich has been 

 stated. 



Animals, when swallowed whole, or nearly so, take of 

 course longer in digesting than when they are torn or 

 chewed ; and thus the alligators are, like the larger swal- 

 lowing serpents, dull and languid for some time after a full 

 meal. 



At all times, indeed, they are indolent animals; for 

 though they can walk tolerably fast, and swim faster, the 

 greater part of their time is spent in inaction, and some of 

 it, in the colder climates, in a torpid or dormant state. 



In climates where they hybernate, they dig for them- 

 selves hybernating dens with the entrance under the 

 water, but the chamber so high as that the water does not 

 reach it. It does riot appear that any animal which 

 breathes free air by means of lungs, has been known to 

 hybernate under water. There is some doubt, in the case 

 of the. frogs of cold countries ; but the analogy is against it, 

 and there is no direct proof to rebut the analogy. Upon 



