JACARE, the crocodiles scierops of Schneider, or more recently the jacare sclerops, a South American reptile allied to the alligator and cayman, and whose place has not, perhaps, been definitely assigned. The alligators and caymans belong to the family crocodilida, and it has been proposed (see ALLIGATOR) to constitute a sub-family, alit gatoridce, dividing it into genera, jacare, alligator, and cayman, and that classification is here adopted. The animal is found principally in the tropics, never, according to Azara, below 32' s. lat. It is particularly numerous in Brazil, where it attains a larger size than the North American crocodile or alligator. The head is rather thinner than that of the latter animal, the sides converging towards the snout, forming an isoscolus tri angle. -The surface of the cranial bones has a rough, scabrous appearance, as if di cased. The orbits are surrounded by prominent ridges of bone, connected together by a median ridge, the whole presenting the appearance of a pair of spectacles. Behind the orbit the skull is pierced by two very small holes. The cervical plates are very large, are arranged in four transverse bands, the first two containing four plates each, and each of the others two. The transverse hands of the back, varying according to age and, probably, with the individual, usually consist of two rows with two plates each, four rows with six plates each, five rows with eight plates each, two with six, and four with four plates each. The pease is greenish brown on the upper side and on the under side marbled
with various shades of green and greenish yellow. It attains assize of from 14 to 18 ft., the head forming about one-ninth of the whole length. It is not as fierce as the Mississippi aliieutor, and is said never to have been known to attack men unless near where it has laid its eggs. Their preferred food is fish and waterfowl, of which there is generally an abundance in the waters which they inhabit. Their eggs are about the size of those of a goose, white, and much sought after by the natives as food, who also eat the flesh of the reptile, but it has a strong, musky Emelt, and but little juiciness. The female deposits her eggs in the sand in a single layer, covering them with straw or leaves, but the vultures find most of them, and many of the young are devoured by the adult males when the rivers become low and other prey is scarce. See ALLIGATOR, CAYMAN, and CROCODILE, ante.