82 



Allioatoes.- 



-reptii.es.- 



-Alligatous. 



tliora, shot it in the mouth; but not wounding it mor- 

 tally it escaped into the river. The day after he again 

 saw another band lying on the banks of the river, and 

 succucded in shooting two of them. 



Family of ALLIGATORS {AUiijaloyidcr). 



T!" Alligators are distinguished from the crocodiles 

 by K- ing the canine teeth of the lower jaw fitting into 

 a pit instead of a notch, in the edge of the upper, when 

 the iJiouth is closed. The hind legs are destitute of 

 the fringe of scales on the hinder part, and their toes 

 are scarcely webbed. The species are not numerous, 

 and they are peculiar to the New World. Nine or ten 

 only have been described, and they are arranged in 

 throe distinct genera, Alligator, Jacare, and Cayman. 

 The gcnns Alligator has tlie jaws of an oblong figure, 

 depressed, and is more particularly distinguished by 

 having a small longitudinal rib between the orbits. 

 The hind feet are webbed ; and the nostrils are sepa- 

 rated by a bony septum. 



THE ALLIGATOR, par excellence, the Pike-muz- 

 zled Cayman of some authors {Alligator Missinsij)- 

 piensis) — Plate 8, figs. 7, 7a (skeli^ton and skull) — is 

 one of tlie best known. The head is elongated, sub- 

 oval, rounded in front, truncated behind ; having the 

 general form of that of the well-known fish called 

 the pike. The superior surface of the snout is elevated 

 for the nostrils, and the forehead is subdivided by a 

 short sharp keel into two halves. This ridge is peculiar 

 to the Alligator. The nostrils open on tlie upper part 

 near the snout, and are (even in their early youtli) 

 separated from each other by a bony plate or partition 

 . — a formation found in no other species of the order. 

 The eyes are large and prominent ; and there are three 

 eyelids, the upper one of which is covered with two 

 large plates, and several smaller ones. The jaws are 

 slightly curved, and armed with forty teeth above and 

 below, of whicli the fourth inferior pair is the longest 

 of all, and received in sockets of the upper jaw when 

 the mouth is closed. The body is elongated, rounded 

 above, full at the flanks, and flat below. The chest and 

 belly are protected by broad, smooth, quadrilateral plates. 

 The tail is large, long, compressed and thick below, and 

 surmounted above with a double, strongly serrated crest 

 on its anterior, and by a single crest on its posterior half. 

 The fore legs are large and strong, but the Iiind are nearly 

 twice the size. The body of the Alligator, in the old 

 animal, is of a dusky colour above, the throat yellowish- 

 white. The common size is between nine and ten feet, 

 but they often grow much larger. Htilbrook says he 

 has seen one in Carolina thirteen and a half feet long ; 

 Catcsby has seen them fourteen feet ; and Bartram 

 tells us that he has seen them twenty foot in length, 

 and that some are supposed to grow to even twenty-two 

 or twenty-three feet. Waterton asserts that he himself 

 " once saw an alligator in the Oronoque thirty feet in 

 length, and another of the same size in the Essequibo." 

 Bartram's description of this huge creature is very 

 graphic : — " When full grown," he says, " it is a very 

 large and terrible creature, and of prodigious strength, 

 activity, and swiftness in the water. Their body is as 

 large as that of a horse ; their sliapo exactly resembles 



that of a lizard, except their tail, which is flat or 

 cuneiform, being comjiressed on each side, and gradually 

 diminishing from the abdomen to the extremity, whicli 

 with the whole body is covered with horny plates or 

 squamse, impenetrable when on the body of the live 

 animal even to a rifle ball, except about their head 

 and just behind their fore legs or arms, where it is said 

 they are only vulnerable. The head of a full-grown 

 one is about three feet, and the mouth opens nearly the 

 same length ; their eyes are small in proportion, and 

 seem sunk deep in the head, by means of the promi- 

 nence of their brows. The nostrils are large, inflated, 

 and prominent on the top, so that the head in the water 

 resembles at a distance a chunk of wood floating about. 

 In the forepart of the upper jaw on each side, just 

 under the nostrils, are two very large, thick, strong 

 teeth or tusks, not very sharp, but rather the shape of 

 a cone. These are as white as the finest polished ivory, 

 and are not covered by any skin or lips, and always in 

 sight, which gives the creatui'e a frightful ajipearance. 

 In the lower jaw are holes opposite to these teeth to 

 receive them. When they clap their jaws together, it 

 causes a surprising noise, like that which is made by 

 forcing a heavy plank with violence upon tlie ground, 

 and may be heard at a great distance." 



The Alligator is a native of North America. It is 

 first observed on the Atlantic border of the United 

 States, in North Carohna. From this point, they 

 abound near the mouths of all the creeks and riveis 

 that empty into the Atlantic Ocean, or into the Gulf of 

 Mexico, as far as New Orleans, ascending up the Jlis- 

 sissiiipi as high as the entrance of Ked Eiver, a distance 

 of six hundred miles. Their chief places of abode are 

 the low stagnant ponds and deep morasses of the 

 Southern States, where hundreds of them can be seen 

 at a time, either on the flat marshy banks of creeks 

 and rivers, or on sandy or nniddy shores left dry by 

 the ebb of the tide. Here they remain motionless for 

 hours, apparently asleep, and are often mistaken for logs 

 of dead and decaying wood, as well from their colour 

 as from their perfect immobility ; but, when disturbed 

 by the approach of enemies, they suddenly retreat to 

 the water. At other times, they may be observed float- 

 ing on the surface of the water, and only directed by 

 its current ; suddenly they skim along with the greatest 

 velocity, cither in search of food or their mate. In his 

 native state, the Alligator is exceedingly voracious, and 

 feeds on any animal substance that falls in his waj'. 

 As Catesby says, he springs upon domestic animals, 

 such as pigs, sheep, or oxen, that arc imprudent enough 

 to penetrate into their solitudes; but he seems in 

 general to be mostly attracted by fish and other animals 

 in motion, as minks, musk-rats, dogs, &c., so as to 

 render it almost impossible for them to cross even 

 small streams without danger at certahi seasons of the 

 year. Ilolbrook tells us that Alligators are said to lie 

 in wait for their prey on the banks of creeks and rivers, 

 and when it approaches they sweep it into the water 

 with their tail; "and it is certain," he adds, "that the 

 animal uses the tail in del'ence, striking with it the 

 enemy, and turning the head to the same side, at the 

 same instant, so as to represent nearly a circle. There 

 seems to bo some diflerenco of opinion amongst authors 



