The Biology of the Crocodiha 19 



Almost immediately after the occurrence of the rains 

 that filled up the swamps eggs were deposited in all 

 of the nests at about the same time. From the fact 

 that all of these completed nests had stood for so 

 long a time without eggs, and from the fact that 

 all of the eggs from these nests contained embryos 

 in a well-advanced state of development, it seemed 

 evident that the egg-laying had been delayed by the 

 unusually dry weather. Eggs taken directly from 

 the oviducts of an alligator that was killed at this 

 time also contained embryos that had already 

 passed through the earlier stages of development. 

 Thus it was that the earliest stages of development 

 were not obtained during this summer. 



It is said that during the mating season, which 

 precedes by some time, of course, the laying season, 

 the males are noisy and quarrelsome, and that 

 they exhibit sexual characteristics of color by 

 which they may be distinguished from the females. 

 Never having been in the alligator country at this 

 season, the writer has made no personal observa- 

 tions along these lines, but from the frequency 

 with which alligators with mutilated or missing 

 members are found it is evident that fierce encoun- 

 ters must sometimes take place, whatever the 

 cause. During June and July, at least, and prob- 

 ably during most of the year, the alligators are 

 very silent, an occasional bellow during the very 

 early morning hours being the only audible evi- 

 dence that one has that the big reptiles are in the 



