CHAPTER IX 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ALLIGATOR 



{A . mississippiensis) 

 Introduction 



WITH the exception of S. F. Clarke's well- 

 known paper, to which frequent refer- ■ 

 ence will be made, practical^ no work 

 has been done upon the development of the 

 American alligator. This is probably due to the 

 great difficulties experienced in obtaining the nec- 

 essary embryological material. Clarke, some 

 twenty years ago, made three trips to the 

 swamps of Florida in quest of the desired ma- 

 terial. The writer has also spent parts of three 

 summers in the Southern swamps — once in the 

 Everglades, once among the smaller swamps 

 and lakes of central Florida, and once in the Oke- 

 finokee Swamp. For the first of these expeditions 

 he is indebted to the Elizabeth Thompson Science 

 Fund; but for the more successful trip, when 

 most of the material for this work was collected, he 



is indebted to the Smithsonian Institution, from 



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