The Alligatou. REPTILES. The Yacake. 83 
as to the ferocity of the Alligator and his motions on 
land. Mr. Holbrook says that this animal is much 
more timid than is commonly supposed, and he believes 
that there is no well authenticated instance in Carolina 
of their having preyed on man. It moves but slowly 
and with difficulty, he says, on land, in consequence of 
the shortness of the extremities compared with the 
great length of the body. “ He raises himself on his 
legs, advances for a short distance, dragging along the 
thick heavy tail ; now he falls upon the belly, apparently 
to rest for a time, before he proceeds on his journey.” 
Waterton, however, asserts that in Guiana this creature is 
bold and ferocious, and by no means slow-paced on land. 
Bartram’s testimony as to the ferocity of this species 
corresponds with this account given by Waterton. The 
stories given by this traveller of his different encoun- 
ters with Alligators in Florida are most amusing, whilst 
at -the same time his description of its habits is so 
correct in many particulars, that, romance as it may 
appear, we cannot refuse credit to his statements. He 
travelled in Carolina, Georgia, and through East and 
West Florida between the years 1773 and 1788 ; and, 
as Holbrook remarks, though his description appears, 
with our knowledge of these animals at the present 
day to be one that should be received with caution, 
yet it is very possible that the encroachments of man 
upon their dwelling-places, since Bartram saw them, 
may have rendered them more timid and distrustful. 
We have already made a similar remark when describ- 
ing the rattlesnake — see p. 44. 
In the spring of the year and early summer months, 
and during the period of incubation, and specially in 
cloudy days or in the evening. Alligators make a great 
noise. Their croak, according to Holbrook, is not 
unlike that of the bull-frog, but louder and less pro- 
longed. The females construct peculiar nests in which 
to deposit their eggs. Mr. Holbrook informs us that 
they mount small sandy hillocks, or construct small 
mounds witlT mud and vegetable substances, for this 
purpose. The eggs are hatched by the heat of the 
sun in about thirty days ; and for some time after they 
are born, the young appear to live only upon the larvte 
of insects and very small fishes. The Alligator, like 
other reptiles, can remain a long time without eating ; 
and on the approach of winter the}^ seek out holes in 
the earth, where they remain torpid till spring or the 
warmth of the weather excites them again to life and 
activity. In the Southern States many are dug out of 
these retreats, in this state of hybernation, by the 
slaves, who esteem the tail as an article of food, and 
which is even declared by Holbrook to he “ tolerable.” 
The eggs are also used as food. According to Water- 
ton they are about the size of a turkey’s, and the 
outside is rough and of a dirty-white colour. 
The name of Alligator is most probably derived 
from the Spanish word lagarta, a lizard. Waterton 
says that the British having seized on the settlements 
in America formed by the Spaniards, soon became 
acquainted with this reptile, and on hearing the Span- 
iards exclaim “ una lagarta ” when the animal made 
its appearance, they, in their turn, called it “ an alli- 
gator for so the two Spanish words, “ una lagarta,” 
sounded in the English ears. 
The genus Jacaee differs from Alligator^ in having 
a ridge across the face between the eyes, and the nos- 
trils being separated by a cartilaginous septum. The 
jaws are oblong, depressed ; the hind feet are scarcely 
webbed ; and the eyelids are fleshy. 
THE SPECTACLED YACARE {Jacare sclerops).—T\iQ 
species represented in Plate 7, fig. 3, is a native of 
Brazil, and derives its name from the native appel- 
lation of this reptile, the Guaranis calling it the Yacare. 
Azara who tells us this, informs us also that it is 
common in all the rivers, lagoons, and estuaries in 
Paraguay, where it may be seen in the mornings 
and evenings lying under the water, showing only 
its eyes above the surface. About mid-day, however, 
it leaves the water and comes ashore to sleep on the 
sandy banks and bask in the sun. There it sleeps 
profoundly, returning precipitately to the water the 
moment a man or dog approaches. This Yacare grows 
to a considerable size, eight feet being an ordinary 
length, though it often reaches to still larger. Azara, 
in his “ Travels in South America,” gives a very good 
description of the Yacare. The head, he says, is flat 
above, is long, and the muzzle so deeply cleft, that 
from its tip to the angle of the throat is fourteen inches. 
Its tail constitutes nearly half its total length, and is 
rather singular in form. Its posterior part is triangu- 
lar and prismatic, and there extends all along it a 
series of scales in form of a crest. The upper part of 
its body is covered with a skin of a dark colour, under- 
neath which it has scales impenetrable to the balls of 
a musket. It has them also underneath, so that they 
can only be killed by striking them in the eyes, which are 
small, or at the flanks. This reptile has no incisives, 
and the rest of the teeth are so disposed that we may 
at once infer that the animal can make no use of them 
to cut with, not even to tear their prey, but that it is 
obliged to swallow the fishes which it seizes without 
masticating them. In Paraguay the natives do not 
appear to fear the Yacares, and do not hesitate to 
bathe and swim in the rivers frequented by them. 
Sometimes, however, they seize dogs traversing the 
stream, pull them under water and drown them. The 
female lays about sixty eggs, which are about the size 
of those of a goose, and are white. She buries them 
in the sand, covering them over with herbage, and leaves 
them to be hatched by the heat of the sun. These 
eggs are much sought after by the Indians, who esteem 
them as an article of food ; and they eat the flesh of 
the animal also, which is white and well tasted, though 
dry. 
The third genus. Caiman, differs from the two 
others, principally by the eyebrows being defended 
with three bony plates. There are three species 
described — one, the native habitat of which is not well 
known, further than it is from South America, Caiman 
trigonotus ; another a native of Brazil, the Eye-browed 
Cayman, C. palpebrosus ; and the third, an inhabitant 
of Tropical America, the Swollen-headed Cayman, 
C. gibhiceps. Very little is known of their habits, and 
the specimens are very rare in European museunis. 
The toes are scarcely webbed, which might lead us to 
suppose that these animals were more terrestrial in 
their habits than the Alligators and Yacaris. 
