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CHAPTER XVI. 



THE ALLIGATOR. 



Description. — Body long and thick, protected by regular 

 transverse rows of bony plates ; head long and flat, the mouth 

 extremely large, extending behind the eyes, and furnished in 

 each jaw with a single row of teeth ; the tongue very short 

 and flesliy ; it is attached to the lower jaw throughout its 

 whole extent ; ears closed externally. The tail is long and 

 taper, strongly compressed on both sides, and surmounted 

 towards its origin with a double series of keel-like plates, 

 which gradually converge towards the middle of the tail, there 

 uniting and forming a single row to the extremity. On the 

 hind-feet are four toes, more or less perfectly united with 

 membranes ; the forefeet have five long and separate. 



Size. — It grows to the length of fourteen or fifteen feet. 



npHE alligator, properly so called, inhabits the fresh 

 -*- waters of the Southern States of America. Ac- 

 cording to the account of Messrs. Dunbar and Hunter, 

 they encountered one as high as latitude 32-|-° N., but 

 its particular and special haunts are the rivers, lagoons, 

 and swamps, of Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, and Texas ; 

 preference being given to a stagnant pond, or sluggish 

 creek, rather than a swift running stream or river. 



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