REPTILES AND THEIR PROGENY 157 



natural history has given rise to more heated, unprofitable 

 controversy, and it must be admitted, when the facts are 

 squarely faced, that there is absolutely no evidence in 

 support of this fantastic belief. The story, however, is 

 founded on no idle gossip, but on a misinterpretation of 

 evidence, for by way of proof those who are genuinely 

 convinced that they have really witnessed this strange 

 disappearance adduce the fact that they have actually slain 

 the snake and taken out the living young from within her. 

 This they may indeed have done, for the viper is viviparous, 

 and the young revealed by the operation of the knife are 

 young which otherwise would not have seen the light of 

 day for some hours later. 



Young crocodiles and alligators owe more than they can 

 ever be aware of to the guardianship of their mothers. 

 Thus the female of the common crocodile digs a hole in 

 the sand from eighteen inches to two feet deep, so contrived 

 that the bottom of the nest is wider than the top, and has 

 its centre in the form of a mound. Thus, when the eggs, 

 some twenty to thirty in number, are laid, they roll down 

 the slope into the circular trench. When the hole is filled 

 up the mother selects the top for her sleeping-place, 

 and thus betrays what she had been at such pains to con- 

 ceal. In about twelve weeks the eggs are hatched. The 

 young give warning of their readiness to rise from their 

 burial-place by a peculiar hiccough-like noise which is 

 heard by the mother when she returns to the nest for her 

 nightly slumber. She then proceeds to remove the earth 

 above them and awaits the moment of their emergence from 

 the hard, protecting shell. They need no further aid in 

 making their escape, for the snout of each is armed, as 

 in the case of young birds, with a hard, tooth-Hke spur, 

 which serves the purpose of a tin-opener, since it cuts away 



