ORDER SAURIA. 199 



yacare of M. d'Azara, which does not proceed beyond the 

 fifty-second degree of south latitude, is the same animal. It 

 has been very well described by M. Schneider. 



In the great river of the environs of Surinam, some of these 

 caymans have been seen, that attained to the length of 

 twenty, and even twenty-four feet. The negroes sometimes 

 eat their flesh, although it has a fetid and musky odour. 

 Stedman assures us that they will not attack a man, as long 

 as he remains in motion in the water. On land they do not 

 possess one half of the swiftness of man, and but seldom 

 attack him there, unless he approaches their eggs. These 

 they defend with remarkable courage. 



The female lays about sixty eggs in the sand ; and covers 

 them with straw or leaves, leaving them to be fecundated by 

 the sun. According to Delaborde, they lay two and even 

 three times in the year, within intervals of a few days, but 

 this author asserts that the eggs are only twenty or twenty- 

 four in number. 



They always pass the night in the water and the day in 

 the sun, sleeping on the sand. But they return to the water 

 if they see a man or a dog. 



M. d'Azara tells us that the inhabitants of Paraguay, to 

 take the yacare, have an arrow so constructed that, being 

 shot into the flank, it leaves there the iron with which 

 it is armed, and from which it detaches itself, but that 

 nevertheless, those two parts remain connected by means of a 

 long cord. The wood remains floating on the water, and 

 indicates to the savages the place to which the animal has 

 retired, whither they immediately repair and despatch him 

 with their spears. 



According to M. Correa de Serra, some Portuguese tra- 

 vellers are of opinion that the yacares of the southern and 

 temperate parts of Brazil are not the same as those of the 

 north. Both lay their eggs in the sand confusedly, and not 



