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hosts of imitators amongst moths, beetles, and bugs, and I shall have many curious facts to relate concerning these mimetic resemblances. To those not acquainted with Mr. Bates's admirable remarks on mimetic forms, I must explain that it is only on account of the poverty of our language that we have to speak of one species imitating another, as if it were a conscious act. No such idea is entertained, and it might have been well if some new term had been adopted to express what is meant. These deceptive resemblances are supposed, by the advocates of the origin of species by natural selection, to have been brought about by varieties of one species, that somewhat resembled another having special means of protection, being preserved from their enemies in consequence of that unconscious imitation. The resemblance, which was perhaps at first only remote, is supposed to have been increased in the course of ages by the varieties, that more and more closely approached the species imitated, in form, colour, and movements, being protected. These resemblances are not only between insects of different genera and orders, but between insects and flowers, leaves, twigs, and bark of trees, and between insects and inanimate nature. They serve often for concealment, as when leaves are imitated by leaf-insects and many butterflies; or for a disguise that enables predatory species to get within reach of their prey, as in those spiders that resemble the petals of flowers amongst which they hide.

That I may not travel over the same ground twice, I may here mention that on a subsequent visit to Greytown Mr. Hollenbeck lent me his horse, and I rode a few miles northward along the beach. On my return, I tied up the horse and walked about a mile over the

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ALLIGATORS IN SAN JUAN RIVER.

Ch. I.]

ALLIGATORS.

9

sand-bank that extends down to the mouth of the river. A long, deep branch from the river is a favourite resort for alligators. At the far end of a sand-spit, near where some low trees grew, I saw several dark objects lying close to the water on the shelving banks. They were alligators basking in the sun. As I approached, most of them crawled into the water. Mr. Hollenbeck had been down a few days before shooting at them with a rifle, to try to get a skull of one of the monsters, and I passed a dead one that he had shot. As I walked up the beach, I saw many that were not less than fifteen feet in length. One lay motionless, and thinking it was another dead one, I was walking up to it, and had got within three yards, when I saw the film over its eye moving, otherwise it was quite still, and its teeth projecting beyond its lips added to its intense ugliness and appearance of death. There was no doubt, however, about the movement of the eye-covers, and I went back a short distance to look for a stick to throw at him; but when I turned again, he was just disappearing into the water. It is the habit of these animals to lie quite still, and catch animals that come near them. Whether or not he was waiting until I came within the swoop of his mighty tail I know not, but I had the feeling that I had escaped a great danger. It was curious that he should have been so bold only a few days after Mr. Hollenbeck had been down shooting at them. There were not less than twenty altogether, and they swam out into the middle of the inlet and floated about, looking like logs in the water, excepting that one stretched up his head and gave a bellow like a bull. They sometimes kill calves and young horses, and I was told of one that had seized a full-grown horse, but its

struggles being observed, some natives ran down and saved it from being pulled into the water and drowned. I heard several stories of people being killed by them, but only one was well authenticated. This was told me by the head of the excellent Moravian Mission, at Blewfields, who was a witness of the occurrence. He said that one Sunday, after service at their chapel at Blewfields, several of the youths went to bathe in the river, which was rather muddy at the time; the first to plunge in was a boy of twelve years of age, and he was immediately seized by a large alligator, and carried along under water. My informant and others followed in a canoe, and ultimately recovered the body, but life was extinct. The alligator cannot devour his prey beneath the water, but crawls on land with it after he has drowned it. They are said to catch wild pigs in the forest near the river by half burying themselves in the ground. The pigs come rooting amongst the soil, the alligator never moves until one gets within his reach, when he seizes it and hurries off to the river with it. They are often seen in hot weather on logs or sand-spits lying with their mouths wide open. The natives say they are catching flies: that numbers are attracted by the saliva of the mouth, and that when sufficient are collected, the alligator closes his jaws upon them, but I do not know what reliance can be placed on the story. Probably it is an invention to account for the animals lying with their mouths open; as in all half-civilised countries. I have visited I have found that the natives seldom admit they do not know the reason of anything, but will invent an explanation rather than acknowledge their ignorance.

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