THE ALLIGATOR. $3 



and the Crocodile, is that it has its head and part 

 of the neck more smooth than the other, and that 

 the snout is considerably more wide and fiat, as well 

 as more rounded at the extremity. The length of 

 the full-grown Alligator is seventeen or eighteen 

 feet. 



The Alligators are natives of the warmer parts of 

 America: and had it not been for an accident, these 

 inhabitants of the New World would never have 

 been known by any other name than that of Croco- 

 dile : for, had the first navigators seen any thing that 

 more resembled their form than a Lizard, they would 

 have adopted that by which the Indians call them, 

 the Cayman ; but the Spanish sailors remarking their 

 great resemblance to that little reptile, they called 

 the first of them which they saw Lagarto, or Lizard. 

 When our countrymen arrived, and heard that name, 

 they called the creature a-Lagarto y whence was 

 afterwards derived the word Alligato or Alligator. 



They are often seen floating on the surface of the 

 water like logs of wood, and are mistaken for such 

 by various animals, which by this means they sur- 

 prise, and draw down to devour at leisure. They 

 are said also sometimes to form a hole in the bank 

 of a river, below the surface of the water, and there 

 to wait till the fish, that are fatigued with the strong 

 current, come into the smooth water near to rest 

 themselves, when they immediately seize and devour 

 them *. But since they are not able to obtain a re- 

 gular supply of food, from the fear in which they are 



* DuPratz, *68. 

 E7 



