PART VII. 

 CURIOUS D WELLE RS OF SWAMP AND FOREST. 



THE MONARCH OF THE SWAMP. 



1. In the old, old time geologists tell us that the earth 

 was inhabited by monstrous beasts, birds, and reptiles, 

 compared with which their present representatives are 

 mere piygmies. Prominent among these were many spe- 

 cies of saurians, reptiles with enormous bodies, short legs, 

 huge jaws, and immense tails, who found the earth a con- 

 genial abiding-place before the lands and the waters were 

 separated, and who evidently lorded it over their amphibious 

 companions. They could swim in the water, or paddle 

 througn the mud, and even learned to rest upon the dry 

 land for a brief space when it appeared. The alligators 

 are the survivals of these old saurians, wonderfully shrunk 

 from the dimensions of their progenitors, but still suffi- 

 ciently powerful to remain monarch of the swamp, to which 

 position their structure is eminently fitted. 



2. Like the knights of old, all the exposed parts of 

 their bodies are covered with an impenetrable armor, so 

 that they fear neither the claws of the panther, the fangs 

 of the copperhead, nor the close embrace of the constrictor. 

 The scales which constitute this armor are even rifle-proof, 

 and sportsmen along the Florida rivers see their bullets 

 glance off, producing upon the animal probably only a 



