82 Alligators. REPTILES. Alligators. 
them, shot it in the mouth ; but not wounding it mor- 
tally it escaped into the river. The day after he again 
saw another band lying on the banks of the river, and 
succeeded in shooting two of them. 
Family of ALLIGATORS {Alligatoridce). 
The Alligators are distinguished from the crocodiles 
by having the canine teeth of the lower jaw fitting into 
a pit, instead of a notch, in the edge of the upper, when 
the mouth is closed. The hind legs are destitute of 
the fringe of scales on the hinder part, and their toes 
are scarcely webbed. The species are not numerous, 
and they are peculiar to the New World. Nine or ten 
only have been described, and they are arranged in 
three distinct genera, Alligator, Jacare, and Cayman. 
The genus Alligator has the jaws of an oblong figure, 
depressed, and is more particularly distinguished by 
having a small longitudinal rib between the orbits. 
The hind feet are webbed ; and the nostrils are sepa- 
rated by a bony septum. 
THE ALLIGATOR., par excellence, the Pike-muz- 
zled Cayman of some authors {Alligator 
piensis ) — Plate 8, figs. 7, 7a (skeleton and skull) — is 
one of the best known. The head is elongated, sub- 
oval, rounded in front, truncated behind; having the 
general form of that of the well-known fish called 
the pike. The superior surface of the snout is elevated 
for the nostrils, and the forehead is subdivided by a 
short sharp keel into two halves. This ridge is peculiar 
to the Alligator. The nostrils open on the upper part 
near the snout, and are (even in their early youth) 
separated from each other by a bony plate or partition 
— a formation found in no other species of the order. 
The eyes are large and prominent ; and there are three 
eyelids, the upper one of which is covered with two 
large plates, and several smaller ones. The jaws are 
slightly curved, and armed with forty teeth above and 
below, of which the fourth inferior pair is the longest 
of all, and received in sockets of the upper jaw when 
the mouth is closed. The body is elongated, rounded 
above, full at the flanks, and flat below. The chest and 
belly are protected by broad, smooth, quadrilateral plates. 
The tail is large, long, compressed and thick below, and 
surmounted above with a double, strongly serrated crest 
on its anterior, and by a single crest on its posterior half. 
The fore legs are large and strong, but the hind are nearly 
twice the size. The body of the Alligator, in the old 
animal, is of a dusky colour above, the throat yellowish- 
white. The common size is between nine and ten feet, 
but they often grow much larger. Holbrook says he 
has seen one in Carolina thirteen and a half feet long ; 
Catesby has seen them fourteen feet; and Bartram 
tells us that he has seen them twenty feet in length, 
and that some are supposed to grow to even twenty-two 
or twenty-three feet. Waterton asserts that he himself 
“ once saw an alligator in the Oronoque thirty feet in 
length, and another of the same size in the Essequibo.” 
Bartram’s description of this huge creature is very 
graphic : — ■“ When full grown,” he says, “ it is a very 
* large and terrible creature, and of prodigious strength, 
activity, and swiftness in the water. Their body is as 
large as that of a horse ; their shape exactly resembles 
that of a lizard, except their tail, which is flat or 
cuneiform, being compressed on each side, and gradually 
diminishing from the abdomen to the extremity, which 
with the whole body is covered with horny plates or 
squamae, impenetrable when on the body of the live 
animal even to a rifle ball, except about their head 
and just behind their fore legs or arms, where it is said 
they are only vulnerable. The head of a full-grown 
one is about three feet, and the mouth opens nearly the 
same length; their eyes are small in proportion, and 
seem sunk deep in the head, by means of the promi- 
nence of their brows. The nostrils are large, inflated, 
and prominent on the top, so that the head in the water 
resembles at a distance a chunk of wood floating about. 
In the forepart of the upper jaw on each side, just 
under the nostrils, are two very large, thick, strong 
teeth or tusks, not veiy sharp, but rather the shape of 
a cone. These are as white as the finest polished ivory, 
and are not covered by any skin or lips, and always in 
sight, which gives the creature a frightful appearance. 
In the lower jaw are holes opposite to these teeth to 
receive them. When they clap their jaws together, it 
causes a surprising noise, like that which is made by 
forcing a heavy plank with violence upon the ground, 
and may be heard at a great distance.” 
The Alligator is a native of North America. It is 
first observed on the Atlantic border of the United 
States, in North Carolina. From this point, they 
abound near the mouths of all the creeks and rivers 
that empty into the Atlantic Ocean, or into the Gulf of 
Mexico, as far as New Orleans, ascending up the Mis- 
sissippi as high as the entrance of Red River, a distance 
of six hundred miles. Their chief places of abode are 
the low stagnant ponds and deep morasses of the 
Southern States, where hundreds of them can be seen 
at a time, either on the flat marshy banks of creeks 
and rivers, or on sandy or muddy shores left diy by 
the ebb of the tide. Here they remain motionless for 
hours, apparently asleep, and are often mistaken for logs 
of dead and decaying wood, as well from their colour 
as from their perfect immobility ; but, when disturbed 
by the approach of enemies, they suddenly retreat to 
the water. At other times, they may be observed float- 
ing on the surface of the water, and only directed by 
its current ; suddenly they skim along wdth the greatest 
velocity, either in search of food or their mate. In his 
native state, the Alligator is exceedingly voracious, and 
feeds on any animal substance that falls in his way. 
As Catesby says, he springs upon domestic animals, 
such as pigs, sheep, or oxen, that are imprudent enough 
to penetrate into their solitudes ; but he seems in 
general to be mostly attracted by fish and other animals 
in motion, as minks, musk-rats, dogs, &c., so as to 
render it almost impossible for them to cross even 
small streams without danger at certain seasons of the 
year. Holbrook tells us that Alligators are said to lie 
in wait for their prey on the banks of creeks and rivers, 
and when it approaches they sweep it into the water 
with their tail ; “ and it is certain,” he adds, “ that the 
animal uses the tail in defence, striking with it the 
enemy, and turning the head to the same side, at the 
same instant, so as to represent nearly a circle. There 
seems to be some difi'erence of opinion amongst authors 
