The Alligator - 



-KEI■TILES.- 



-TiiE Yacaue. 



as to the ferocity of the Alligator and bis motions on 

 land. Jlr. Ilulbrook says tliat this animal is much 

 more timid than is commonly supposed, and he believes 

 tliat there is no well authenticated instance in Carolina 

 of their having preyed on man. It moves but slowly 

 and with didiculty, he says, on land, in consequence of 

 the shortness of the extremities compared with the 

 great length of the bod}'. " He raises himself on his 

 legs, advances for a short distance, dragging along the 

 thick heavy tail ; now he falls upon the belly, apparently 

 to rest for a time, before he proceeds on his journey." 

 Waterton, however, asserts that in Guiana this creature is 

 bold and ferocious, and by no means slow-paced on land. 



Bartram's testimony as to the ferocitj' of this species 

 corresponds with this account given by Waterton. The 

 stories given by this traveller of his difl'erent encoun- 

 ters with Alligators in Florida are most amusing, whilst 

 at the same time his description of its habits is so 

 correct in many particulars, that, romance as it may 

 appear, we cannot refuse credit to his statements. He 

 travelled in Carolina, Georgia, and through East and 

 West Florida between the years 1773 and 1788 ; and, 

 as Holbrook remarks, though his description appears, 

 with our knowledge of these animals at the present 

 day to be one that should be received with caution, 

 yet it is very possible that the encroachments of man 

 upon their dwelling-places, since Bartram saw them, 

 may have rendered them more timid and distrustfid. 

 We have already made a similar remark when describ- 

 ing the rattlesnake — see p. 44. 



In the spring of the year and early summer months, 

 and during the jieriod of incubation, and specially in 

 cloudy days or in the evening. Alligators make a great 

 noise. Their croak, according to Holbrook, is not 

 unlike that of the bull-frog, but louder and less pro- 

 longed. The females construct peculiar nests in which 

 to deposit their eggs. ]\Ir. Holbrook informs us that 

 they mount small sandy hillocks, or construct small 

 mounds with mud and vegetable substances, for this 

 purpose. The eggs are hatched by the heat of the 

 sun in about thirty days ; and for some time after they 

 are born, the young appear to live only upon the larva; 

 of insects and very small fishes. The Alligator, like 

 other reptiles, can remain a long time without eating ; 

 and on the approach of winter they seek out holes in 

 the earth, where they remain torpid till spring or the 

 warmth of the weather excites them again to life and 

 activity. In the Southern States many are dug out of 

 these retreats, in this state of hybernation, by the 

 slaves, who esteem the tail as an article of food, and 

 which is even declared by Holbrook to be "tolerable." 

 Tlie eggs are also used as food. According to Water- 

 ton they are about the size of a turkey's, and tlie 

 outside is rough and of a dirty-white colour. 



The name of Atlii/alor is most probably derived 

 from the Spanish word lagarta, a lizard. AVaterton 

 says that the British having seized on the settlements 

 in Amoiica formed by the Spaniards, soon became 

 acquainted with this reptile, and on hearing the Span- 

 iards exclaim " una lagarta " when the animal made 

 its appearance, they, in their turn, called it " an alli- 

 gator ;" for so the two Spanisli words, " una lagarta," 

 sounded in the English oars. 



The genus Jacare differs from AlUgntor, in having 

 a ridge across tlie face between the eyes, and the nos- 

 trils being separated by a cartilaginous septum. The 

 jaws are oblong, depressed ; the hind feet are scarcely 

 webbed ; and the eyelids are fleshy. 



THE SPECTACLED TACAEE {Jacare sc?cre;w).— The 

 species represented in Plate 7, fig. 3, is a native of 

 Brazil, and derives its name from the native .ippel- 

 lation of this reptile, the Guaranis calling it the Yacare. 

 Azara who tells us this, informs us also that it is 

 common in all the rivers, ligoons, and estuaries in 

 Paraguay, where it may be seen in the mornings 

 and evenings lying under the water, showing only 

 its eyes above the surface. About mid-day, however, 

 it leaves the water and comes ashore to sleep on the 

 sandy banks and bask in the sun. There it sleeps 

 profoundly, returning precipitately to the water the 

 moment a man or dog approaches. Tliis Yacare grows 

 to a considerable size, eight feet being an ordinary 

 length, though it often reaches to still larger. Azara, 

 in his " Travels in South America," gives a very good 

 description of the Yacare. The head, he says, is flat 

 above, is long, and the muzzle so deeply cleft, ibat 

 from its tip to the angle of the throat is fourteen inches. 

 It3 tail constitutes nearly half its total length, and is 

 rather singular in form. Its posterior part is triangu- 

 lar and prismatic, and there extends all along it a 

 series of scales in form of a crest. The upper part of 

 its body is covered with a skin of a dark colour, under- 

 neath which it has scales impenetrable to the balls of 

 a musket. It has them also underneath, so that they 

 can only be killed by striking them in the eyes, which are 

 small, or at the flanks. This reptile has no inc):-ive8, 

 and the rest of the teeth are so disposed that w( :;iay 

 at once infer that the animal can make no use ol' ,iiem 

 to cut with, not even to tear their prey, but tha; it is 

 obliged to swallow the fishes which it seizes without 

 masticating them. In Paraguay the natives do not 

 appear to fear the Yacares, and do not hesiiate to 

 bathe and swim in the rivers frequented by them. 

 Sometimes, liowever, they seize dogs traversing the 

 stream, pidl them under water and drown them. The 

 female lays about sixty eggs, which are about the size 

 of those of a goose, and are white. She buries them 

 in the sand, covering them over with herbage, and leaves 

 them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. These 

 eggs are much sought after by the Indians, who esteem 

 them as an article of food ; and the}' eat tlie flesh of 

 the animal also, which is white and well tasted, though 

 dry. 



The third genus. Caiman, differs from the two 

 others, principally by the eyebrows being defended 

 with three bony plates. There are three species 

 described — one, the native habitat of which is not well 

 known, further than it is from South America, Ctiiman 

 tritjimotus ; another a native of Brazil, the Eye-browed 

 Cayman, C. palpehrosus ; and the tliird, an inhabitant 

 of Tropical America, the Swollen-headed Ca\'man, 

 C. (jihhiceps. Very little is known of their habits, and 

 the specimens are very rare in European nuiseums. 

 The toes are scarcely webbed, which might lead us tf 

 suppose that these animals were more terrestrial in 

 their habits than the Alligators and Yacaris. 



