210 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



intestine, colon, and rectum. The small intestine is short and little 

 plicate, and the colon is short and has a c;ecum. 



According- to Stannius, the lungs are digitate at the extremity and 

 along the inner borders. Wiedersheim states that the proximal part 

 of the lung is shortly divided longitudinally into three parts, each of 

 which has a separate connection with the bronchus. 



The mesenteries include the usual hepato-ventral, epigastric, gastro- 

 hepatic, and right hepatic, the last including the right lung. The left 

 luug is included in a left hepatogastric, a feature seen in few other 

 groups, notabl}^ as the Anoline Iguanida'. There is also a left hepato- 

 lateral, from the liver to the left body wall, having a direction diagonal 

 to the loug axis of the liver in G. basiliscus. 



The greater part of the surface of the hemipenis is coarsely calycu- 

 late, generally in a transverse direction. There are remarkable papillae 

 at the apex, which differ in the different forms. In the G. imrdaUs 

 there is a kind of membranous apron proximad of the papillae, which 

 presents an ap(;x proximad opposite to the sulcus spermaticus. In the 

 G. vulgaris and G. gracilis the papill;ie are erect, laminiform, and trans- 

 verse, and serrate on the edges. The principal pair have a few papillae 

 in front of and behind them, and in the G. gracilis there is behind 

 these, on each side, an oval body which is composed of three serrate 

 laminte packed obli([uely together. In the G. gracilis the proximal 

 laminie are low and have a margin of acute tubercles, and each serves 

 as a collar to a much larger papilla. The latter is largely free and 

 tongue-shaped, with the apex proximad, and its flat external surface is 

 covered with three or four rows of conic papilla?. 



Bouleuger thus summarizes the general characters of the Chameleons: 



Tongue cylindrical, extremely extensile and projectile, sheathed at the base, club- 

 shaped and viscous at the end, with au exceedingly elongate glossohyal bone. 



Tlie head usually forms a bony casque, ornate with crests or tubercles. The inter- 

 orbital septum is present, and a sma 1 columella cranii distinguishable. (This is not 

 the columella (epipterygoid), but the postoptic Cope.) Preniaxillary extremely 

 small, edentulous (sometimes. C); orbit bony all around, the pre- and postfrontals 

 often joining to form a supraorbital roof; a pair of snpranasal fontauelles, bordered 

 by the nasals, the prefroutals, and the frontal; latter bone single; parietal fora- 

 men, if present, pierced in the frontal; parietal single, often much narrowed and 

 compressed, forming a crest, and meeting posteriorly the extremities of a pair of 

 bones, the supratemporals, which on each side connect it with the scjuamosal. 

 (This should be paroccipital. C.) In some species the parietal in the adult may be 

 much expanded, and form a bony slab from which the supratemporals are no longer 

 to be distinguished. Dentition acrodont; teeth compressed, triangular, more or less 

 distinctly tricuspid. Palate toothless. Eyes large, covered by a thick granular lid 

 pierced with a small central opening for the pupil. No tympanum. Body com- 

 pressed; neck very short. VertebrjB proccjelian. Abdominal ribs present. Limbs 

 long, raising the body. Digits arranged in bundles of two and three; in the hand . 

 the inner bundle is formed of three, the outer of two digits; it is the reverse in the 

 foot. Tail prehensile. Head and body covered with granules or tubercles. 



Physiologically as well as anatomically Cham;cleons stand by themselves among 

 reptiles, as is evidenced by the mobility and independent action of their eyes, the 

 projectility of their tongue, the slow and deliberate movement of their limbs. The 



