The Alligator and its Allies

The purpose of this volume is to bring together, in convenient form for the use of students of zoölogy, some of the more important details of the biology, anatomy, and development of the Crocodilia. For obvious reasons the American Alligator is the species chiefly used. In the first chapter the discussion of the alligator is largely the result of the personal observations of the author; the facts in regard to the less familiar forms are taken from Ditmars and others. The description of the skeleton, with the exception of short quotations from Reynolds, is the author’s. The chapter on the muscular system is a translation from Bronn’s Thierreich, and the author has not verified the descriptions of that writer. The description of the nervous system is partly the author’s and partly taken from Bronn and others. The chapters on the digestive, urogenital, respiratory, and vascular systems are practically all from descriptions by the author. The chapter on “The Development of the Alligator” is a reprint, with slight alterations, of the paper of that title published for the author by the Smithsonian Institution. The bibliography, while not complete, will be found to contain most of the important works dealing with this group of reptiles.