ALLIGATOR

(\ corruption or the Portuguese word l derived from lacerta, a lizard.) In modern Zoology, the term is limited to those species of crocodile which have a wide obtuse muzzle, unequal teeth, the fourth pair of which, countinz backwards in the lower jaw, pa into corresponding cavities in the upper jaw, where their points are concealed when the mouth is closed. In the true crocodiles, the corresponding teeth pas3 into open grooves in the33 margin of the upper jaw, and are conse- [s. 47]