Note: Information is dated. Do not rely on it.

Alligator. A genus of saurian reptiles, natives of America and China. They differ from the true crocodiles in having a broader head, blunter nose, and cavities or pits in the upper jaw, into which the long canine teeth of the under-jaw fit. The largest grow to the length of sixteen feet. The female lays from thirty to forty eggs in a low mound of sand, muck, or vegetable mould, where they are hatched by the heat of the sun or by the fermentation of the vegetable mass. The female watches the eggs until the young are hatched.

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