181 



It would appear to possess the power of regulating the force of 

 propulsion of its tongue according to the distance of the prey ; for 

 when the latter lay near to the mouth, the organ advanced on it 

 slowly ; when farther off its velocity was more marked ; and whe- 

 ther nearer or more remote it invariably darted with greatest quick- 

 ness as its point approached the object. 



The chameleon, when vigorous in its natural climate, is said to 

 shoot forth its tongue with a velocity equalling that of an arrow shot 

 from a bow ;* but mine, weakened by long confinement and want 

 of food, had become incapable of such activity — a circumstance 

 favourable to my purposes — as by the prolonged exposure of the 

 tongue, which occupied about five or six seconds, an opportunity 

 was gained for making observations on its condition while pro- 

 truded. 1 have several times mechanically detained it in view, by 

 placing the fly to be aimed at, in such a position on a flat surface 

 that the tongue might strike it in a direction perpendicular to that 

 surface, under which circumstances its glutinous cupped extremity 

 adhered like a sucker, and held the organ exposed for nearly double 

 the ordinary period. Attempts at seizing insects similarly placed 

 on the side of the animal's case, which was made of paper, gave 

 it particular embarrassment, not so much from the delay caused 

 by the adhesion, as from the annoyance which the down of the 

 paper sticking to the mucus on the extremity of its tongue seemed 

 ■ to produce. Indeed it appeared to dread the inconvenience which 

 resulted from striking at objects under these circumstances, as it 

 always endeavoured to take aim in such a direction that the end of 

 its tongue might escape a little beyond them without danger of 

 interruption. On one occasion, when both animals attempted at the 



• See Belon — Observations, &c. liv. 2. ch. 34, 



