142 . NATUEAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



is common in the waters of the Guadalape drainage, and is occasionally seen in the San Antonio 

 Eiver, within the limits of the city of San Antonio," ^ and Professor Baird has recorded a specimen 

 from Brownsville, Tex., on the Eio Grande.^ From thence its range extends southward into 

 South America. 



Abundance.— The Alligator is growing less and less abundant, particularly on the Atlantic 

 coast, and on the west coast of Florida, owing to the increase of population and the reckless 

 manner in which it has been hunted and destroyed. Many persons have engaged in slaughtering 

 these creatures merely for the sport which is supposed to be derived from so doing, no use having 

 been made of the carcasses. 



Size. The Alligator is the largest living reptile occurring within the United States, and is 



approached in size only by the marine turtles. Holbrook records having seen one which was 

 thirteen and a half feet long,^ while Bartram, in his narrative of travels in Florida, afQrms that 

 they attain a length of twenty to twenty-three feet in that region.* The latter statement, however, 

 must be taken with some caution; if true, it would seem that the Alligator does not now attain his 

 former wonted proportions. From a note in " Forest and Stream," of 1876, we learn that " the 

 largest alligator killed in Florida for many years was shot last spring [1876] by Dr. De Marmon, of 

 Kingsbridge, N. Y. The animal measured 12 feet 6 inches in length when spread on the dock. It 

 was 6 feet 10 inches round the body, 5 feet 10 inches around the jaws, and weighed about 700 

 pounds. The head, which is now in the doctor's possession, is 30 inches long. It was killed on 

 the Homosassa Eiver, about two miles from Alfred Jones's grove."' The average length would 

 appear to be about ten feet. 



Food and mannek of obtaining it. — The food of Alligators consists almost exclusively 

 of fish and such small land or semi-aquatic animals as it is able to secure. It would appear that 

 they are also expert fly-catchers. The quaint allusion of Exquemelin to this subject is too 

 interesting to be omitted. "The Gaymanes," he says, "are ordinarily busied in hunting and 

 catching of flies, which they eagerly devour. The occasion is, because close unto their skin, 

 they have certain little scales, which smell with a sweet sent, something Uke unto musk. This 

 aromatick odour is coveted by the flies, and here they come to repose themselves and sting. 

 Thus they both persecute each other continually, with an incredible hatred, and antipathy."* 



The existence of this habit, I have recently been informed, has been frequently confirmed 

 in Louisiana by reliable observers; but the gentleman who informed me was inclined to believe 

 that it is the saliva which attracts the flies into the gaping jaws of the Alligator. The manner 

 in which the reptile secures his fill of fishes is related by Dowler in a paper written in 1846, who 

 founded his remarks on the statements of some, to him, credible observers. He writes as follows: 



"Many authors assert that Alligators cannot swallow under water. In offering some facts 

 to disprove this assumption, the sagacity of these animals will be more or less illustrated. A 

 gentleman, on two occasions, watched Alligators when catching sunflsh, which were swimming in 

 shoals in shallow water. The Alligator placed his long body at a suitable distance from the shore. 

 As soon as the fish came between him and the land, he curved his body so that they could not 

 pass; the tail was moored on land; the mouth was opened under water, and brought so close to 



' COPB : On the Zoological Position of Texas. Bull. U. S. National Museum, No. 17, 1880, p. 13. 



- GiRAED : Herpetology, U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, ii, pt. 2, p. 5. 



" Holbrook : Nortli American Herpetology, ii, 1842, p. 56. 



■"Bartram: Travels through East and West Florida, 1791, p. 128. 



^Forest and Stream, vii, 1876, p. 84. 



^Exquemelin : Buccaneers of America. English translation, 1684, p. 48. 



