The Biology of the Crocodilia 27 
thousands of hides were converted into leather. 
The demand was short-lived, however, and was 
not again felt until the demand for shoe-leather 
during the war between the States revived the 
business. At the close of the war the business 
again failed, but about 1869 the demand became 
greater than ever and has continued unabated to 
the present time. The supply of skins from our 
own States proving inadequate, large numbers of 
skins were soon imported from Mexico and Central 
America. The skins from South America are so 
heavy that they are of little value in making leather. 
Of the States of the Union, Florida has been the 
chief producer, the most important centers for 
hides being Cocoa, Melbourne, Fort Pierce, Miami, 
and Kissimmee. Ten men at the first-named place 
took, in 1899-1900, 2500 skins; one man took 800 
skins in one year; another man collected 42 skins 
in one night. At Fort Pierce twelve men took 
4000 skins in 1889. In 1899, three firms at Kissim- 
mee handled 33,600 hides. After this time the 
total number of hides taken and the average per 
man diminished greatly. 
Besides being killed for their hides, the alligators 
have been destroyed by the thousands merely 
for wanton sport, so that in 1902 it was estimated 
that their numbers in Florida and Louisiana were 
less than one fifth of what they were twenty years 
before that time, and unless steps be taken to 
prevent it, the alligator hide, as an article of 
