34 The Alligator and Its Allies 
value to the alligator there are other ways in 
which it has some economic importance. Chief 
of these is probably the sale of alligator goods 
to tourists. In 1891 there were in Jacksonville, 
Florida, twelve dealers in live and stuffed alligators. 
In 1890, 8400 alligators were sold to tourists, the 
price for the live animals varying from $10.00 to 
$35 per hundred. For individual animals of the 
smallest size (less than twelve inches long) the 
price is usually from 50 cents to $1.00. For a 
three-foot alligator the price is generally $3-$5.00; 
for sizes over three feet $2.00 per foot may be 
charged, though for very large specimens the price 
may be from $50 to $300 each. 
Besides the live and stuffed animals the teeth 
are polished and sold as souvenirs; about 450 
pounds of teeth were sold in 1890, at a price vary- 
ing from $1.00 to $2.00 per pound. From 75 to 
200 teeth will make a pound. 
In 1891 about forty people, in addition to the 
regular dealers, were engaged, in the United States, 
in stuffing alligators, polishing teeth, etc. The 
teeth are extracted by burying the head until 
decomposition sets in. 
The tiny alligators that are most commonly 
sold to tourists, to be brought North, perhaps, 
and allowed to freeze or starve to death, may 
either be caught by a wire noose at the end of a 
fishing rod, or they may be hatched from eggs that 
are taken from the nests shortly before they are 
