694 REPTILIA — ALLIGATOR. 



eggs, of the size of a tennis-ball, and of the same figure, covered with a 

 tough, white skin, like parchment. She takes above an hour to perform 

 this task ; and then covering up the place so artfully that it can scarcely be 

 perceived, she goes back, to return again the next day. Upon her return, 

 with the same precaution as before, she lays about the same number of 

 eggs; and the day following also a like number. Thus, having deposited 

 her whole quantity, and having covered them close up in the sand, they are 

 soon vivified by the heat of the sun ; and at the end of thirty days, the young 

 ones begin to break open the shell. At this time, the female is instinctively 

 taught that her young ones want relief; and she goes upon land, to scratch 

 away the sand, and set them free. Her brood quickly avail themselves of 

 their liberty ; a part run unguided to the water; another part ascend the 

 back of the female, and are carried thither in greater safety. But the moment 

 they arrive at the water, all natural connection is at an end. The whole 

 brood scatters into diflerent parts of the bottom ; by far the greater number 

 are destroyed ; and the rest find safety in their agility or minuteness. 



The open-bellied crocodile is furnished Avith a false belly, like the opos- 

 sum, where the young creep out and in, as their dangers and necessities 

 require. It is probable that this open-bellied crocodile is viviparous, and 

 fosters her young, that are prematurely excluded, in this second womb, until 

 they come to proper maturity. 



THE ALLIGATOR,! OR AMERICAN CROCO- 

 DILE, 



Which is called the cayman by the Indians, is closely allied to the preceding; 

 the principal difference between them being that its head and part of its neck 

 are much more smooth thanthoseof the latter, and that its snout is more- wide 

 and flat, and more rounded at the extremity. The usual length of the alli- 

 gator is seventeen or eighteen feet, but it sometimes exceeds this. This 

 animal is a native of the warmer parts of America, in some of which it is 

 astonishingly numerous. Its voice is loud and dreadful ; and its musky 

 scent is sometimes so powerful as to be exceedingly offensive. 



The habits of the North American alligator are described with great 

 accuracy, and in a very amusing manner, by Mr Audubon. " One of the 

 most remarkable objects connected with the natural history of America, 

 that attract the traveller's eye as he ascends through the mouths of the 



1 The genus Alligator has the muzzle hroad, obtuse ; teeth unequal ; the fourth tooth on 

 each side of the lower jaw entering a cavity in the upper ; feet scmi-palmated, and with 

 dentations. 



