ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



AN ALLIGATOR'S BASKING .PLACE 

 The ripples mark the place where a big specimen has just dived into the water 



The struggles of the reptile were fast and 

 vigorous. We worked on a platform of bark 

 hastil}^ torn from a decaying tree, and which 

 prevented our sinking to our knees in the 

 swamp. Between showers of mud thrown up 

 by the alligator's tail, we looped the creature's 

 jaws in a way to form a rope muzzle with about 

 ten feet attached for pulling. 



We hauled him a full quarter-mile out of the 

 thicker part of the swamp, thence led the wagon 

 a tortuous route between the trees to meet the 

 captive. Lifting the animal to the wagon, we 

 bound him to the floor upon paddings of Span- 

 ish moss, then drove ten miles over corduroy 

 roads to the pinelands and our collecting base. 



We had rented an empty house as our camp, 

 and having no cage for the alligator, were in 

 doubt what to do with him until morning, when 

 a shipping crate could be built. Our trouble- 

 some specimen was eight feet long and about 

 two hundred pounds in weight. Threatening 

 to destroy the wagon, and hissing furiously he 

 caused us some anxiety, until the idea occurred 

 of locking him in our best bedroom. With 



much prudence we moved out furniture and 

 baggage, before the alligator went in. His 

 initial struggles with his new surroundings 

 shook the house, and a blow of his head loosened 

 the door fastenings. But in the end the room 

 held him, and the next morning a crate was 

 built for shipment to the North. 



This fine specimen is now on exhibition in 

 the Reptile House, and in the large pool with 

 a specimen almost matching him in size that 

 hatched from a batch of eggs collected in the 

 same neighborhood fifteen years ago. 



Fortunately, for the future status of the 

 alligator, the market for hides has reached such 

 a low ebb that traffic in skins is no longer worth 

 while. A large dealer in leather goods informed 

 the writer that the skin of a four foot reptile 

 — the size most preferable in "the trade"- — is 

 worth but fifty cents, and that the finest dressed 

 hide, all ready for cutting into desirable sizes 

 for manufactured articles, is worth only two 

 dollars. This latter value involves tanning 

 only by the best processes. As a fashion, the 

 use of alligator hide has "gone out." 



