Page:Natural History, Reptiles.djvu/67

Rh The Alligator is believed to be very long-lived, as its growth is very slow, and its ultimate bulk gigantic.

The species with whose economy we are best acquainted is that of which we have already spoken as inhabiting the rivers that flow through the Southern United States, and the dismal swamps that border them. In Louisiana and Florida, this Alligator (Alligator lucius, .) is particularly abundant, from the low and swampy character of those regions conjoined with their hot climate. The snout of this species is flattened above, and slightly turned upwards; the sides of the head are nearly parallel, and the nose forms a regular curve. The rim of the eye-orbits is large and protuberant, but not united by a transverse crest. The colour is a deep greenish-brown above, and pale yellow beneath; the sides are marked with these colours in alternate bands.

Some interesting details of the history of the Alligator are given with much graphic power by the eminent American ornithologist, Mr. Audubon.

"In Louisiana," says this accurate observer, "all our lagoons, bayous, creeks, ponds, lakes, and rivers, are well stocked with them; they are found wherever there is a sufficient quantity of water to hide them, or to furnish them with food; and they continue thus, in great numbers, as high as the mouth of the Arkansas river, extending east to North Carolina, and as far west as I have penetrated. On the Red river, before it was navigated by steam-vessels, they were so extremely abundant, that to see hundreds at a time along the shores, or on the immense rafts of