54 



THE CAYMAN. 



to drift silently down the stream, when, just as 

 we got opposite the place where the cayman 

 was lurking, I pulled the trigger and shot it. 

 The whole of the afternoon was spent in 

 dissecting it, and I found it fully as tenacious 

 of life as the land tortoise itself. 



The mouth of the cayman is furnished with 

 a most formidable row of teeth in each jaw, 

 but they are peculiarly shaped for snatch and 

 swallow. He has no grinders ; hence no 

 laceration of the food can take place in the 

 mouth. But a contest will often ensue 

 amongst the congregated reptiles, when the 

 morsel is too large for deglutition ; and then 

 each individual snatches at what it can get, 

 and pulls away the piece. The nose of the 

 cayman forms a pretty rotund figure. This, 

 together with the rough protuberance which 

 guards the eye from above, may be modelled 

 by my new process, and rendered as elevated 

 as it appeared during the life of the animal. 

 When Swainson tells us that the snout of 

 crocodiles and caymans is unusually depressed, 

 I know immediately that he has been at his 

 wonted employment of examining a dried skin. 



In dissecting a cayman for preservation, you 



