FOSSIL REPTILES. 185 



The first sub-genus is named Cayman or Alligator. The 

 name of Cayman or Caiman is almost generally employed by 

 the Dutch, French, Spanish, and Portuguese colonists, to 

 designate the crocodiles which are most common in the neigh- 

 bourhood of their establishments. Authors are not agreed on 

 the origin of this name. According to Bontius it came from 

 the East Indies: his words are ^^ per totam Indiam Cayman 

 audit.'' Marcgrave makes it come from Congo — " Jacare 

 Brasiliensibus, Cayman JEthiopibus in Congo ;" and Roche- 

 fort says, it was original with the native islanders of the 

 Antilles. The opinion of Marcgrave was confirmed to 

 M. Cuvier, by the report of a very enlightened inhabitant of 

 St. Domingo, who declared, that the slaves on their arrival from 

 Africa, at sight of a crocodile, instantly gave it the name of 

 cayman. The word alligator has been more peculiarly em- 

 ployed by our own countrymen, but rather in a loose way. 

 Notwithstanding the Latin air of this word, it has no relation 

 with its apparent etymology. Some say that it is derived from 

 legateer or allegater, which is the name of the crocodile in 

 some parts of India. This, however, is not a well-authenti- 

 cated etymology : it seems more probable that it is a corrup- 

 tion of the Portuguese lagarto which, itself, is clearly derived 

 from lacerta. 



This first sub-genus has the head less oblong than the 

 crocodiles. Its length to its breadth, taken at the articulation 

 of the jaws, is usually as three to two : never more than double. 

 The length of the cranium makes more than a fourth of the 

 total length of the head. The teeth are unequal : they are at 

 the least nineteen, and sometimes two-and -twenty on each 

 side below — nineteen at the least ; and often twenty above. 

 The first teeth of the lower jaw pierce the upper at a certain 

 age ; the fourth, which are the longest, enter into hollows in 

 the upper jaw, where they are concealed when the mouth is 

 closed. They do not enter into notches. The legs and hind 

 feet are rounded, and have neither caruncles nor indenta- 



