The Biology of the CrocodiHa 27 



thousands of hides were converted into leather. 

 The demand was short-lived, however, and was 

 not again felt until the demand for shoe-leather 

 during the war between the States revived the 

 business. At the close of the war the business 

 again failed, but about 1869 the demand became 

 greater than ever and has continued unabated to 

 the present time. The supply of skins from our 

 own States proving inadequate, large numbers of 

 skins were soon imported from Mexico and Central 

 America. The skins from South America are so 

 heavy that they are of little value in making leather. 

 Of the States of the Union, Florida has been the 

 chief producer, the most important centers for 

 hides being Cocoa, Melbourne, Fort Pierce, Miami, 

 and Kissimmee. Ten men at the first-named place 

 took, in 1 899-1 900, 2500 skins; one man took 800 

 skins in one year; another man collected 42 skins 

 in one night. At Fort Pierce twelve men took 

 4000 skins in 1889. In 1899, three firms at Kissim- 

 mee handled 33,600 hides. After this time the 

 total number of hides taken and the average per 

 man diminished greatly. 



Besides being killed for their hides, the alligators 

 have been destroyed by the thousands merely 

 for wanton sport, so that in 1902 it was estimated 

 that their numbers in Florida and Louisiana were 

 less than one fifth of what they were twenty years 

 before that time, and unless steps be taken to 

 prevent it, the alligator hide, as an article of 



