398 SPANISH-TOWN. 



THE CROCODILE. 



In some parts of Jamaica, Crocodiles (or, as they 

 are usually called, Alligators) are sufficiently nume- 

 rous ; but in the neighbourhood of Bluefields they 

 are so rare that, though I occasionally heard reports 

 of one and another having been seen in the creeks 

 and morasses around, I was never so fortunate as to 

 fall in with a living specimen. 



To atone for my lack of personal observation on 

 these animals, I have pleasure in extracting from my 

 correspondence with Mr. Hill, many valuable notes, 

 containing much that is new and interesting, and 

 tending to explain some things that have hitherto 

 appeared discrepant and contradictory. There is no 

 evidence, I believe, that any species of Alligator, 

 properly so called, inhabits the Antilles : the Cro- 

 codile of Jamaica is C. acutus, the Slender-muzzled, 

 possessed by this island in common with Martinique 

 and Hayti, and represented in Cuba by the Lozenge- 

 scaled Crocodile (C rhomhifer). 



The first extract that I shall make refers to the 

 mode of feeding ; and though my friend used the 

 term Alligator, he subsequently ascertained, on the 

 authority of Descourtiltz, that the species is C. 

 acutus. 



" Mr. Waterton, I perceive, in his second series 

 of Essays, contradicts Swainson's statement respect- 

 ing the habit of the Cayman, 'to convey its food 

 to some hole at the edge of the water, where it 

 is suffered to putrefy before it is devoured.' He 

 says, this statement must be rejected, because ' the 



