ALLIGATOR-SHOOTING IX FLORIDA. 551 



tail, as long as head and body combined. The whole body is 

 covered with a tough skin, brownish-black above and white 

 beneath, all creased with square-cornered checks beneath 

 and on the tail and smaller irregular forms on the sides 

 and legs. The entire upper surface is more or less covered 

 with round plates of bone set on the skin, each plate having 

 a median keel, that gives the animal's back his rough 

 appearance. The keels on the outer row of tail-plates are 

 much higher than the rest, thus giving the outer sides 

 sharp, high edges, which converge until they meet, back 

 of the center, to form the sharp upper edge of the tail, 

 which is much flattened there. 



The Alligator is found as far north as Memphis, Tennes- 

 see; is common in the Gulf States, but to-day is probably 

 most abundant in Florida, Where it is cold enough to 

 freeze, he hibernates during the cold spell; but in South 

 Florida he may be found wide-awake and enjoying life 

 throughout the year. 



They feed on any animal life obtainable, from horseshoe 

 crabs to dogs and pigs, and are commonly regarded as 

 being fond of negro babies; but their most common diet is 

 fish. Of thirty-six specimens from six to eleven feet in 

 length whose stomachs I examined, twenty contained noth- 

 ing but fishy-smelling water and oil, remnants of a few small 

 minnows, and, in almost every case, one or two small sorts 

 of an aquatic plant. Two had dined on a brace of wild 

 ducks each, while the remaining fourteen were all killed at 

 a time when the surface of the lake was strewn with dead 

 fish; and each 'Gator had laid in a stock of provisions lim- 

 ited only by his storage capacity. 



From the frequent occurrence of the aquatic roots in their 

 stomachs, it appears that they are not entirely carnivorous. 

 A u Cracker'' informs me that he planted a crop of cucum- 

 bers near a pond, and that when the ' cukes were big enough 

 to pull, the 'Gators come up and cleaned out the hull crop/' 



It is evident that a square meal is an uncertain event, 

 and doubtless weeks often elapse during which the Alligator 

 has little or nothing to eat. In confinement, they are said 



