THE HOME OF THE ALLIGATOR 365 
THE HOME OF THE ALLIGATOR 
By Prorgessor A. M. REESE 
UNIVERSITY OF WEST VIRGINIA 
iE has twice been my privilege to visit the wilds of Florida under 
the auspices of scientific societies, the first trip being to the 
Everglades, while the second expedition, under the auspices of the 
Smithsonian Institution, took me to the flat-wood and prairie regions 
in the center of the state, far from railroads and other signs of 
civilization. 
From the pleasant little town of Orlando, with its orange groves and 
numerous small lakes, we plunged almost immediately into the “ piney- 
woods,” where the road is scarcely more than a trail, and is strewn with 
numberless huge pine cones that produce constant and nerve-racking 
jolting to passing vehicles. 
For about thirty miles we drove, slowly on account of heavy loads, 
through the pines, where but few and widely separated houses, and no 
villages, worthy of the name, were to be seen. The monotony and lone- 
liness of these almost perfectly level forests, broken only by an occa- 
sional cypress swamp, sluggish stream, or tiny cabin, becomes, to one 
accustomed to a thickly-settled, rolling country, quite oppressive; and 
we were glad to come suddenly to the edge of the forest where we could 
look out for miles upon the open prairie. The prairie proved to be 
much more interesting, though no less lonely, than the pine woods. 
The ground is here covered with either grass, upon which large herds 
of cattle feed, or with the “scrub palmetto” which is, apparently, 
gradually spreading its useless foliage over the entire prairie. 
These scrub palmettoes, especially where they grow in taller, denser 
groups, are the home of numerous diamond rattle-snakes, the most 
deadly of American reptiles. As we drove past the palmettoes we 
frequently saw, and always captured alive if possible, these deadly 
rattlers, my guide being very expert and perfectly fearless in handling 
them. If they were coiled when found, he would simply reach out his 
hand slowly and pick them up by the back of the neck, sometimes 
attracting their attention by dangling a handkerchief in front of their 
eyes with one hand while he seized them with the other. Tf they 
attempted to escape, he would tap them with a carriage whip until he 
made them crawl where he could get at them easily. It ig remarkable 
the amount of teasing and rough handling to which a rattler will sub- 
mit without attempting to bite. His rattle may whirr violently and 
