No. 2.] EMBRYOLOGY OF THE AMERICAN ALLIGATOR. 1 85 



the same instant, rushing up with their heads and part of their 

 bodies above the water, roaring terribly, and belching floods of 

 water over me. They struck their jaws together so close to my 

 ears as almost to stun me, and I expected every moment to be 

 dragged out of the boat and instantly devoured. But I applied 

 my weapons [clubs] so effectually about me, though at random, 

 that I was so successful as to beat them off a little ; when, find- 

 ing that they designed to renew the battle, I made for the shore, 

 as the only means left me for my preservation." Finally this 

 from Bartram, relating to the numbers of the alligators : — 



" The prodigious assemblage of crocodiles x at this place 

 exceeded everything of the kind I ever heard of. The river 

 in this place from shore to shore, and perhaps near half a mile 

 above and below me, appeared to be one solid bank of fish of 

 various kinds, pushing through the narrow pass of St. Juans 

 into the little lake on their return down the river, and the alli- 

 gators were in such incredible numbers, and so close together 

 from shore to shore, that it would have been easy to have walked 

 across on their heads, had the animals been harmless." 



Considerable allowance must be made for the dramatic char- 

 acter of Bartram's style ; but there is no reason to doubt that 

 alligators were formerly more abundant in Florida, and it is 

 highly probable that they were also less fearful of man. One 

 other word from Bartram : " I have seen alligators twenty feet 

 in length, and some are supposed to be twenty-two or twenty- 

 three feet." I doubt the accuracy of this statement and believe 

 that the largest specimens he saw were quite possibly crocodiles. 

 It will be of interest to notice here the Florida crocodile, the 

 only other member of the alligator group in North America. 



The two species of South American crocodile, Crocodilus acutus 

 and C. rhombifer, Cuvier, are known to range northward as far as 

 Cuba and San Domingo. 



In 1870 Dr. Jeffries Wyman (32) found a skull of a crocodile 

 at Key Biscayne Bay, Florida, the extreme southern end of the 

 state. Comparing this with the South American species, he 

 failed to find any specific characteristics which would separate 

 this from the Crocodilus acutus of Cuvier. The skull is now in 

 the collection of the Boston Society of Natural History. 



In January, 1875, W. T. Hornaday (11) shot a male crocodile 



1 He uses the term synonymously with alligators. 



