470 CROCODILIA CHAP. 



much of the finely divided humus underlying them, is scraped 

 together into a low mound about 3 feet high ; this varies consider- 

 ably in its other dimensions, being in some instances 8 feet in 

 diameter at the base. The nests are built on the bank of a stream 

 or pool, and the female digs a cave under water in the bank close 

 to the nest. Careful examination of the largest nest found showed 

 a root of a neighbouring palmetto-tree, nearly an inch in diameter, 

 running through it at about a foot above the ground ; there were 

 also roots of a grape vine growing near, which extended nearly 

 through the nest. This furnishes strong support to the state- 

 ment of many of the hunters, that the nests are used for more 

 than one season. I could get no evidence whatever that the 

 nests are used more than once a year. 



" The eggs are laid near the top of the nest, within 8 inches 

 of the surface, are four or five layers deep, and have no regular 

 arrangement or uniform position of their axes in relation to the 

 nest. The number of eggs to a nest varies from twenty to thirty, 

 and averages twenty-eight ; the maximum found was forty-seven. 



The eggs are white, elliptical, and vary in length from 50 to 

 90 mm. or 2 to 3^ inches, and in the shorter diameter from 28 

 to 45 mm. Generally there is only slight variation in the eggs 

 of one nest, but occasionally a nest is found in which most of the 

 eggs are about the average size, while from two to five are very 

 much smaller. 



" The shell is much rougher than that of a hen's egg, and much 

 thicker. The shell membrane consists of an outer and an inner 

 layer, in both of which the fibres are arranged spirally about 

 the egg, but at right angles to one another. 



" The white of the egg has the consistency of a very thick 

 jelly, is very clear and transparent, and is so firm that the whole 

 egg, when perfectly fresh, may be turned out of the shell and 

 shell membrane, and transferred from one hand to the other 

 without breaking, and with but slight change of form. The 

 white lies mostly at either end of the shell, but extends also in a 

 thin layer between the yolk and the sides of the shell. The yolk 

 holds a median position in the egg, is spherical, of a very light 

 pale yellow, and' so large that it almost touches the shell 

 membrane about the midline." 



According to Holbrook the young as soon as they are dis- 

 engaged from the shell seek the water and shift for themselves, 



