REESE] BREEDING HABITS OF FLORIDA ALLIGATOR 385 
possibly fifty degrees or more; while in the center of a great mass 
of damp vegetation they are probably kept at a fairly constant tem- 
perature. Unfortunately no thermometer was taken to the swamps, 
so that no records of the temperatures of alligator nests were 
obtained, but it was frequently noticed that when, at night or very 
early in the morning, the hand was thrust deep into the center of an 
alligator’s nest the vegetation felt decidedly warm, while in the 
middle of the day, when the surrounding air was, perhaps, fifty 
degrees (Fahrenheit) warmer than it was just before sunrise, the 
inside of the same nest felt quite cool. It is probable, then, that 
the conditions of temperature and moisture in the center of the nest 
are quite uniform. One lot of eggs that had been sent from 
Florida to Maryland continued to incubate in an apparently normal 
way when packed in a box of damp sawdust, the temperature of 
which was about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Another lot of eggs con- 
tinued to incubate, until several young alligators were hatched, in 
the ordinary incubator, at a temperature of about 95 degrees Fah- 
renheit.? 
The fact that eggs taken directly from the oviducts of the cold- 
blooded alligator contain embryos of considerable size seems to indi- 
cate that no such elevation of temperature as is necessary with 
avian eggs is necessary with the eggs of the alligator. 
The complete process of incubation probably extends through a 
period of about eight weeks, but no accurate observations along this 
line could be made. For some hours previous to hatching the young 
alligators make a curious squeaking sound inside the shell, that may 
be heard for a distance of several yards: this sound may be for the 
purpose of attracting the attention of the female alligator, who 
will open the top of the nest in time to allow the just hatched alli- 
gators to escape: unless thus rescued, it would seem impossible for 
the little animals to dig their way out from the center of the closely 
packed mass of decaying vegetation. 
At the time of hatching the alligator is about eight inches in 
length, and it seems impossible that it should have been contained 
in so small an egg. 
The size of alligator eggs, as might be expected, is subject to 
considerable variation. In measuring the eggs a pair of brass cal- 
ipers was used, and the long and short diameters of more than four 
hundred eggs were obtained. A number of eggs of average size, 
when weighed in mass on the scales of a country store, gave an 
average of 2.8 oz. per egg. 
*Reese, A.M., “ Artificial Incubation of Alligator Eggs.” Amer. Nat., 
March, 1901, pp. I93-195. 
