PREFACE 
HE purpose of this volume is to bring 
together, in convenient form for the use of 
students of zodlogy, some of the more 
important details of the biology, anatomy, and 
development of the Crocodilia. For obvious 
reasons the American Alligator is the species chiefly 
used. 
In the first chapter the discussion of the alligator 
is largely the result of the personal observations 
of the author; the facts in regard to the less familiar 
forms are taken from Ditmars and others. The 
description of the skeleton, with the exception of 
short quotations from Reynolds, is the author’s. 
The chapter on the muscular system is a trans- 
lation from Bronn’s Thierreich, and the author has 
not verified the descriptions of that writer. 
The description of the nervous system is partly 
the author’s and partly taken from Bronn and 
others. 
The chapters on the digestive, urogenital, 
respiratory, and vascular systems are practically 
all from descriptions by the author. 
The chapter on ‘‘The Development of the 
Alligator” is a reprint, with slight alterations, of 
the paper of that title published for the author by 
the Smithsonian Institution. 
