THE COMMON ALLIGATOR. 
35 
“He had so frequently crossed the stream below his huts at all times of day, and had seen 
Crocodiles of small dimensions, that he had become, as it were, familiarized to them, and did 
not imagine that there was any danger to be expected from them. One evening, at about sun- 
down, he was wading across the river, the water of which reached above his waist. Suddenly 
he felt himself seized by the under part of his thigh, whilst he was at the same instant dragged 
under water. His wife was following him, and seeing him fall, she scrambled forward to the 
place where he had disappeared, and thus caused considerable noise and splashing, which (or 
something else, perhaps the toughness and bad flavor of the Kaffir) had the effect of making 
the Crocodile quit his hold on the Kaffir, not, however, without tearing off a great portion of 
the under part of his thigh. The man, with difficulty, escaped to the shore, but he remained 
a cripple for life, unable to do more than put the toes of his foot on the ground.” 
We now come to the Alligators, the second family of those huge reptiles which may be 
known, as has already been mentioned, by the lower canine teeth fitting into pits in the upper 
jaw. They are divided into three genera, all of which are inhabitants of the Hew World. 
They are indiscriminately called Alligators, Crocodiles, or Caymans, by the natives or the non- 
zoological traveller, and there is consequently much difficulty in identifying the particular 
species. The genus Alligator may be known by the partly-webbed toes, the outer toe being 
free. 
The Common Alligator inhabits northern America, and is plentifully found in the 
Mississippi, the lakes and rivers of Louisiana and Carolina, and similar localities. It is a fierce 
and dangerous reptile, in many of its habits bearing a close resemblance to the crocodiles, and 
the other members of the family. 
Unlike the crocodile, however, it avoids the salt water, and is but seldom seen even near 
the mouths of rivers, where the tide gives a brackish taste to their waters. It is mostly a fish- 
eater, haunting those portions of the rivers where its prey most abounds, and catching them 
by diving under a passing shoal, snapping up one or two victims as it passes through them, 
tossing them in the air for the purpose of ejecting the water which has necessarily filled its 
mouth, catching them adroitly as they fall, and then swallowing them. Though timid, as are 
