
as, 
This looks all ri 
HERE have not been many op- 
IP portunities for me to study, in 
nature, representatives of these 
two giant reptilian forms of ours; but 
such as they have been I have made the 
most of. In confinement, neither an 
alligator nor a crocodile possesses 
habits that throw much light on the 
lives they lead in their natural habitat. 
In most zodlogical gardens a big alli- 
gator or a crocodile is usually placed 
on exhibition in the limited quarters of 
a tank, where he is regularly fed and 
where he may live for a number of 
years. In this he may have barely 
room to turn around, and in such an 
artificial environment observers can 
but study his general form and the 
manner in which he gulps down his 
food. On the big alligator farms in 
our Southern States it is quite differ- 
ent, as there the animals live pretty 
much as they do in the swamps and 
rivers of the regions in which these 
crocodilians occur. 
Personally I have not observed the 
crocodile in the salt water marshes of 
southern Florida—the only locality in 
which it has ever been taken in this 
country; but upon the other hand I 
have seen them in certain rivers of 
southern Mexico as well as in Cuba. 
Further, my impression is that living 
examples of them were kept in suitable 
swampy ponds in that wonderful place 
known as the Bishop’s Garden on the 
outskirts of Havana (1862-63). Alli- 
gators were also kept in that garden; 
there were lion and tiger pits, and an 
enormous flying-cage for seafowl, such 
as pelicans, gulls, terns and allies. 
NCE when steaming up the Coat- 
zacoaleos River in 1859, on the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec, numerous 
huge alligators and crocodiles were to 
be observed in various localities on the 
banks, as well as those of smaller 
sizes. Some of the big ones looked to 
146 



ght—provided the beast is dead 
me to be almost of a deep lead color as 
they basked in the fierce rays of the 
tropical sun, while most of them were 
of a dark muddy color. 
Once, when at anchor in this river, 
my father and his first officer, Mr. 
Cooper, started to go ashore in the 
gig to get specimens of some of the 
brilliantly colored birds, a few monkeys, 
and so on, to show to the ladies aboard 
on their return. They were about half 
way across when they were attacked by 
an enormous alligator. The monster 
endeavored to climb into the boat and 
was in a fair way to make good. As 
he opened his great jaws to seize my 
father who was sitting on the stern 
seat, Mr. Cooper promptly discharged 
both barrels of his fowling-piece into 
the creature’s throat. With a roar 
that half a dozen bulls in unison would 
have envied, it relinquished its hold, 
slid back into the river, and never again 
arose above its surface. The crimson 
tint of the water was all that remained 
in evidence of what, for the moment, 
promised to be a tragedy of the first 
order. 
EARS after this event, alligators 
and crocodiles again came into my 
mind; and, as I had noted them here 
and there during that long stretch of 
time, the idea came to me to write 
something about them. 
It hasn’t been my good fortune to 
photograph them in nature, so I turned 
to Mr. E. A. MclIlhenny, of Avery 
Island, Louisiana, for a few of his 
photographs with which to illustrate 
this article.’ Not only did he supply 
the fine alligator pictures of the present 
contribution, but also a large series of 
superb photographs of views taken of 
the marvelous bird and mammal refuge 
which he has succeeded in establishing 
at Avery Island. 
Alligators and crocodiles constitute 
the Order CROCODILIA of science, a 
Alligators 
and 
Crocodiles 
Notes on the Giant Saurians 
of the South 
By DR. R. W. SHUFELDT 
group that has been split up into some 
six genera created to contain over 
twenty species, of which the Old World 
claims a good many as well as the 
largest forms known. In the matter 
of structure and habits, they stand 
among the very largest of amphibious 
reptiles with the general contour of a 
lizard. 
OT a little is known of their gen- 
eral anatomy, but more particu- 
larly of the remarkable hide in both 
crocodiles and alligators, which makes, 
as we know, a valuable leather, highly 
useful for not a few purposes. This 
tough, leathery skin is studded on the 
back with longitudinal rows of osseous 
or bony platelets, each being produced 
into a lengthwise ridge or crest. These 
platelets vary in size according to lo- 
cation, the variance being gradual from 
one part of the back to another and as 
we pass down over the dorsum of the 
powerful tail. In all crocodilians the 
tail constitutes a mighty weapon of of- 
fense, and it is a perfect organ of prop- 
ulsion when the animal is in the water, 
where a large proportion of its time is 
spent. The tail is covered with a skin- 
series of a great number of shields, 
varying in size and form depending on 
the position they occupy; this likewise 
applies to the covering of the limbs and 
under parts. In all the species the tail 
is transversely compressed distally, 
with a continuous row of flattened 
shields occupying its superior border 
throughout its entire length. 
PART from the muscles devoted to 
the use of the powerful jaws, the 
head is almost devoid of flesh, and it is 
much compressed from above down- 
wards. As is well known, the gape of 
the jaws is extremely wide and ex- 
tensive, and each jaw supports won- 
derful, big, pointed teeth of special 
form. 
tea 


