The Zoologist— Apuil, 1870. 2091 



County, and in a little village near Paneesofkee Lake I remained 

 three or four days with an old back-woodsraan,, who showed nie 

 through the wild forests. Paneesofkee Lake, which is about six miles 

 long and some two miles broad, was full of alligators: in some 

 places they were floating ten or a dozen together; hundreds were 

 basking on the banks, and as we rode along the lake-side a frightened 

 one would every now and again slide into the water with a tremendous 

 splash. 



I think these Floridian alligators were longer than those further 

 north. It is very difficult to give accurate measurements by the eye, 

 yet I would say many were ten or twelve feet long, and doubtless in 

 many cases much larger. They had probably never been disturbed, or 

 fired at by man, for it is a very out-of-lhe-way part of the world : 

 there are abundance of fish in this lake, no doubt fine feeding for 

 them. 



My guide, who was an intelligent man, seeing me interested in the 

 alligators, asked me whether I should like to see their nesls : 1 replied 

 " Yes." After leaving the lake we soon rode out, through the forest, 

 on to a "savannah": this term is applied in Florida to tracts of land, 

 or rather depressions in the land, which in the wet season are under 

 water, and remain so sufficiently long to prevent the surrounding 

 forests encroaching on their limits ; the summer sun dispels these 

 accumulations of water, or dries up these shallow lakes, and leaves 

 behind islands of lovely green turf, surrounded by a sea of forest, 

 where the half-wild herds of cattle collect for the sake of pasture. 

 Here and there on these savannahs you will notice, on the spots of 

 greatest depression, pools of water with reeds growing : in the summer 

 time these are drinking-places for the cattle, and around these little 

 "meres" I was soon pointed out the nests of the alligators. At first 

 sight I thought they must be the nests of birds; but having dis- 

 mouuted, and hitched our horses to the bough of a tree, we walked to 

 the nearest nest and examined it. The nest was a conical mound 

 built up of mud and reeds, about three feet high, with a slight depres- 

 sion in the centre. I do not think it had any eggs in it ; if so they 

 must have been covered up. The nest was surrounded by a trench 

 full of muddy water, and from this excavation one of the materials for 

 the nest had evidently been taken. 1 trust some careful observer will 

 note how the alligator scratches out the mud to form the conical nest, 

 and in what proportion she mixes the reeds and vegetable matter ; the 

 process must be very interesting. 



