5/6 CHAMAELEONTES 



CHAP. 



C is the same specimen in an excited frame of mind ; 

 it is represented in the act of shooting a fly. The light brown 

 patches have changed to maroon brown ; and many round golden 

 yellow spots have appeared on the green parts. 



D shows a specimen, coloured like C, within a few 

 seconds after it has been put into an angry mood, in the present 

 case by having its tail squeezed. The whole body is blown out, 

 the thick tongue causes the throat to bulge out, and all the 

 yellow spots have become blackish green. 



Many small spots scattered over the body are usually a sign 

 of anger. One of the specimens described above was, when fast 

 asleep in a dark room, dirty white, with about two dozen large 

 and small round spots of a rich yellow on each side of its V)ody. 

 Then a lighted lamp was brought into the room without in any 

 way disturbing the animal. Within sixteen minutes the yellow 

 spots had vanished completely ; the whole body and tail had 

 become suffused with greenish yellow, which gradually turned to 

 pale yellowish green, and those parts which in Fig. B are pale 

 l)rown, were just distinguishable as pale yellowish-white regions. 

 The Chameleon was found to be fast asleep, and it kept this 

 coloration during the rest of the evening. Other specimens 

 behaved on similar occasions in the same way, but the greatest 

 interest is attached to the fiict that frequently only that side of 

 the body " greened up " which happened to l:)e exposed to the 

 light, whilst the opposite side remained whitish. These changes 

 are not absolutely unconscious ; they are, after all, under the 

 control of the creature. In order to test the possibility of direct 

 action of the light, I have taken the precaution of throwing the 

 light of a candle only upon the body, whilst the head was kept 

 in darkness. Xo changes of colour took place whilst the animal 

 was asleep, but when a little light was allowed to sweep across 

 the closed eye, this soon began to twitch, and although the 

 creature did not open the eye, the usual changes of colour began 

 to take place. When the light was removed, the animal soon 

 re-assumed its whitish appearance. Artificially coloured light, for 

 instance green, red, or l)lue glass or paper, has apparently no 

 influence upon the changes of colour. The Chameleons behave 

 as they would behave under ordinary conditions. Direct and 

 hot sunshine however causes them to darken, sometimes to 

 turn uniform dull l)lack, except for the white median ventral 



