18 CROCODILES AND ALLIGATORS 



attaining a length of 12 feet. The average rate of growth 

 up to Vl feet appears to be about 1.4 inches per month. After 

 12 feet has been attained, the rate is much slower, being (in 

 case of our largest specimen) about 2 inches per year. 



The secret in securing rapid gi'owth in captive crocodilians 

 lies in giving them a pool, four feet deep, of water warmed to 

 a temperature of between 80° and 90° F. If kept in cold 

 water, and but little of it, they are uncomfortable, they feed 

 sparingly and grow either very slowly or not at all. 



AMERICAN SPECIES OF CROCODILIANS 



The Florida Crocodile' is the type which represents the 

 midway average between the two extremes of the crocodilian 

 series — narrow-beaked gavial and broad-snouted alligator. 

 It is a subspecies of the so-called "American" crocodile 

 {Crocodilus acutus), of Central and South America, and is 

 not found elsewhere than in southern Florida. It is the only 

 crocodile which inhabits a country that is visited by killing 

 frosts. 



The presence of a true crocodile in Florida was not dis- 

 covered until 1875, when a pair of specimens of large size 

 were collected in Arch Creek, at the head of Biscay ne Bay, 

 by Mr. C. E. Jackson and the writer. The male measured 

 14 feet 2 inches (with 4 inches of his tail missing), and the 

 female 10 feet 8 inches. Since that date, at least seventy 

 specimens have been taken between Lake Worth and Cape 

 Sable. Lake Worth is the northern limit of the species, but 

 it is most abundant in the watery labyrinth of low land and 



^ Cro-co-di'lus a-cu'ius flor-i-dan'uf. 



