CHAMAELEONTIDAE 577 



line. Occasionally I found one of the specimens described above 

 deep maroon brown, with dozens of round orange spots. Blue 

 and red do not seem to be within the range of Ch. vulgaris, but 

 the combinations of green, yellow, brown, black, and white, with 

 their various shades, are almost endless. Sometimes the Chame- 

 leons do not turn pale during the night, but remain more or less 

 dull green, with or without brownish patches. Adaptation to 

 their immediate surroundings takes place to a very moderate degree 

 only, but as a rule they are brightest, especially in their green 

 tints, when they are allowed to sit amongst green foliage. The intro- 

 duction of a branch with fresh leaves generally has a brightening 

 effect upon those which have previously been confined in a cage 

 with dry twigs only. Cold does not necessarily make them pale, 

 but they appear duller, and the changes take place more slowly. 

 After all, Linnaeus has summed up the little we really know 

 about the causes of these changes, in the following terse sentence : 

 " Vivus varios colores assumit secundum animi passiones, calorem 

 et frigus." 



Chameleons are not very amiable. When taken up they 

 blow themselves out or they bite painfully, and it is a long 

 time before they are tame enough not to go through various 

 antics of anger when one approaches them. When taken in 

 the hand they produce a peculiar faint grunting noise, which, 

 however, can be better felt than heard. They quarrel much 

 amongst each other ; and the males, during the pairing season, 

 are particularly ill-tempered. Each individual selects its own 

 particular branch to sleep on, if possible a horizontal one, 

 upon which it crouches down lengthwise, with the head and 

 belly resting upon the branch. The tail generally makes a turn 

 round another branch, and the four legs, grasping some support- 

 ing branch, are put into any, sometimes into an almost incredibly, 

 awkward position. Although they climb about a good deal 

 during the daytime, they generally resort to their accustomed 

 sleeping branch, and they defend this vigorously against would- 

 be intruders. 



Chameleons are most deliberate in their movements, some- 

 times provokingly slow. Each arm and foot leaves the firmly 

 grasped branch with great hesitation, and makes with equal 

 deliberation for some other foothold. It does not matter if the 

 thigh appears almost twisted out of its joint. The creature will 



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