L A C E R T A. 
belly and tail are eaten by the Indians. The flefh is de¬ 
licately white, but has fb perfumed a tafte and fmell, that 
I never could reliffi it.” 
According to the obfervations of Monf. de la Borde, as 
related by Cepede, it appears that the alligators in South 
America depofit their eggs, like the turtles, at two or three 
different periods, at the diffance of fome days from each 
other; laying from twenty to about four-and-twenty eggs 
each time. Monf. de la Borde adds, that thofe of Cay¬ 
enne and Surinam are obferved to raife a little hillock 
towards the banks of the river they frequent, and, hollow¬ 
ing it out in the middle, to amafs together a heap of leaves 
and other vegetable refufe, in which they depolit their 
eggs ; and, covering them with their leaves, a fermentation 
enfues, by the heat of which, joined to that of the atmof- 
phere, the eggs are hatched. The time at which the al¬ 
ligators about Cayenne begin to lay their eggs, is the 
fame with that in which the turtles alio depofit theirs, viz. 
the month of April. Both the alligator and the crocodile 
are fuppofed to be very long-lived animals, and their 
growth is extremely flow. 
We have, in the Monthly Magazine for Nov. laff, 
(1811,) an account of an alligator, in which the exploded 
idea of the motion of the upper jaw is revived. But, as 
the obfervations were made on the living fubject, and 
figned with the name of the obferver, (G.Cumberland, Brif- 
tol,) we fliall infert the account. “ As the public in gene¬ 
ral f'eem to be of opinion that there is a diffin&ion between 
the animals called crocodiles and the alligators, which 
fee ms very doubtful; I took an opportunity, lately, of 
very carefully both examining and drawing one of the 
latter, lately brought by the {hip Elizabeth, to this 
port, from the Black River, in the ifland of Jamaica; hav¬ 
ing been caught when very young. This alligator is not 
above two feet long, and, as far as I can obferve, exactly 
refembles thofe animals which have been frequently exhi¬ 
bited in London (both dried and living) as crocodiles of 
the Nile. Inhabiting fwamps and rivers, it is an animal 
difficult to catch, as at the lead noife, being amphibious, 
it drops under water like a frog or water-newt; and, being 
generally in company with the parents, whofe fize renders 
them formidable enemies to man or beaft, and who feein 
to prefer negro flefh to white, few perfons are willing to 
undertake the bulinefs of enfnaring them. This female, 
in warm weather, prefers being out of water for a long 
time ; and one of its habits has fhown me why it moves the 
upper and not the under jaw ; for, when out of water, it re- 
pofes the head on the table, lifting up the upper mandible, 
and thus it remains till the mouth has flies in it, on which 
it inftantly drops the jaw, like a trap-door, over the im- 
prifoned fufferers ; and thus, no doubt, it repofes it at 
the bottom of rivers to take in eels or other fifties. Its 
temper feems gentle when not irritated, and, young as it 
is, it already knows its feeder; but, when provoked by a 
cat or dog, it has already feized them. The manner in 
which its teeth are fet feems particularly calculated for 
taking and holding eels, as there are two waves in each 
jaw that enable it to prefs the prey out of a right line ; 
the fharpnefs of its teeth, which are like fangs, and longeft 
at each extremity of thefe waving indentures, alfo greatly 
aid its hold. In doling, there is real'on to think they crois 
each other, but this I could not exactly afcertain. In the 
foflil ones I found that always the cafe, and obfervable 
in that of Mr. P. Hawker, of Stroud, which, like this, is 
a (harp-nofed alligator. The rows of teeth, above and be¬ 
low, confift almolt generally of thirty-fix in each jaw» and 
are white as ivory, curved a little, long, and pointed. 
At the extremity of the nofe on the upper fide is a circu¬ 
lar membrane, darker than the re It of the (kin, and hav¬ 
ing two valves in the form of two fmall crefcents, both 
of which it opens for air at the fame time, though but 
rarely; above the eyes, which have nidating membranes, 
are two ftrong plates of bone. Next comes the hinge of 
the upper-jaw, with four ftuds or fcales, and behind them 
two plates, like Ihields; then the neck; after which four 
Vol. XII. No. 809. 
37 
plates make the cornmencement of a procefs that extends 
to the point of the tail. The whole of what may be pro¬ 
perly termed the tail (commencing below the anus, which 
is a ring of fcales) confilts of thirty-fix joints, eighteen 
double-finned and eighteen fvngle-finned above; and this 
rule held good with two dried animals, called crocodiles, 
now in Mr. Bullock’s Mufeum in Piccadilly. The arms 
before have five fingers terminated with {harp claws; 
and the diviiion is of three inwards and two out¬ 
wards, the thumb and little finger being of the fame msg- 
nitude; the hind legs are webbed ftrongly, and the claws 
ftrongeft. In other refpefis the body refembles the coats of 
a turtle, but the arms are fcaled and well defended. Likct 
the turtle, its belly is pale firaw-colour, inclining to green, 
quite flat, the fcales polifbed and fquared, and each fcale 
has a mark as if it had been pinned like a tile. The 
hinder legs in conftruftion are much like thofe of a frog, 
and he goes very faff by their aid. In general, when out 
of water, it fits with the head elevated a great deal; in 
the water, with it fupine. It eats the guts of chickens, 
or any offal; its fmell is rather fiihy, but not difagreeabiy 
fo.” 
II. j Body covered with carinatedfcales. 
4. Lacerta caudiverbera, the fcollop-tailed lizard : tail 
flat, and cleft into fcollops like little wings; feet palmate. 
This fpecies inhabits the warmer regions of South Ame¬ 
rica, being found particularly in Peru and Chili; it fome- 
times grows to the length of feveral feet. The back and 
Tides are covered by fquare plates and oval fcales. The 
tail is indented or notched at the edges, and the animal 
has the power of fhaking it like a whip, and ftriking with 
it in a fimilar manner : hence the name caudiverbera, or 
whip-tail, which has been applied to this, and alfo to 
fome others which can move their tail in the fame manner. 
In the flattened form of the tail it has fome refemblance 
to the crocodile; from which, however it is eafily diftin- 
guiffied, particularly by having five toes on each foot, 
while the crocodiles have only four on the hind feet. From 
this latter circumftance, Cepede confiders the animal re- 
prefented by Seba, i. 106. as this fpecies; though quoted 
by Linnaeus as fynonymous with the crocodile, and by 
Gmelin as a fynonyme of the alligator. On the other 
hand, the animal reprefented by Seba muff not be con¬ 
founded with the dracaena, as the former has webbed feet, 
while thofe of the latter have no membranes interpofed 
between the toes. Befides thefe confiderations, Seba in¬ 
forms us, that the large lizard which he has reprefented 
came from America, in which it agrees with what Lin¬ 
naeus fays of the whip-tail. It may be proper to remark, 
in this place, that the animal reprefented hy Seba, vol. ii. 
t. 103. f. which is quoted as a variety of the whip-tail 
in the Syftema Naturae, is in reality the dracaena ; for, 
though the engraver has given it webs between the toes of 
the hind feet, the text exprefsly fays that it has none. 
Its total length is about fixteen inches, of which the 
tail meafures fomething more than half. The head is large 
and flattiffi, the mouth wide, the tongue broad, the teeth 
fmall and numerous, the neck fhort, the throat protube¬ 
rant, the body thick, and the limbs rather fhort than 
long ; the tail tapers gradually to the tip, but is edged 
throughout its whole length with a broad and deeply-fcol- 
loped fin or membrane, (hence the name which we have 
adopted from Dr. Shaw,) which gradually widens as it ap¬ 
proaches the tip, where it is considerably broader than on 
the Tides : Dtt Turton has therefore called it the fiat-tailed 
lizard. The whole animal is covered, except on the head, 
with a Ikin of a yellow colour; the back being marked 
by numerous diftant red tubercles or granules, each fur- 
rounded by a circle of fmall white fcales; the thighs and 
middle part of the tail are alfo fpotted with fimilar red 
tubercles, but not furrounded by white fcales like thofe 
on the back ; the webs of the hind feet and the fcolloped 
or finny part of the tail are of a bright red ; all the toes 
are furniffied with claws. .It is an extremely-rare animal. 
L ana 
