314 THE ALLIGATOR. 



dilics ScleropSf or spectacled alligator, so named from 

 the peculiar formation of the head around the eyes, 

 which gives it the appearance of wearing glasses. The 

 jacare, as it is called, is not to be found in the United 

 States, its haunts being chiefly the tropical regions of 

 Brazil, Surinam, and other parts of South America, 

 where it grows to a large size, and is said to be fierce 

 in its habits. Of this animal, however, it is not my 

 place to speak, inasmuch as I have only to do with the 

 alligators of Texas and other sunny states, where this 

 saurian of the swamps alone reminds us of the gigantic 

 brutes of a long past geological age. 



