LIZARDS. 141 
through the air, and alights on the back of his playfellow, and 
both struggle and twist about in unimaginable contortions. 
Another is running up and down on the plastered wall, catching 
the ants as they roam in black lines over its whitened surface, 
and another leaps from some piece of furniture upon the back of 
the visitor’s chair, and scampers nimbly along the collar of his 
coat. It jumps on the table—can it be the same? An instant 
ago it was of the most beautiful golden-green, except the base of 
the tail, which was of a soft, light purple hue; now, as if 
changed by an enchanter’s wand, it is of a dul], sooty brown all 
over, and becomes momentarily darker and darker, or mottled with 
dark and pale patches of a most unpleasing aspect. Presenily, 
however, the mental emotion, whatever it was—anger, or fear, or 
dislike—has passed away, and the lovely green hue sparkles in 
the glancing sunlight as before.” 
In captivity, the Anoles often have what may be called a romp 
among themselves, exhibiting as they do so their great activity and 
brilliant colours. They will eat small cockroaches, ants, beetles, 
and mealworms; but I believe they prefer the common blue- 
bottle fly to anything else. The Reptiles jump upon their prey, / 
which they are wonderfully quick to see, from a great distance, 
and seize it with their jaws without any assistance of the tongue. 
As they can assume a hue so exactly like that of the leaf upon 
which they are resting, the insects seem to have no knowledge of 
the neighbourhood of their enemy. The wary little Lizards wait 
until their spoil is within the distance of a leap, and then, with a 
bound, they spring upon the luckless creature. They seldom 
fail to make a catch. 
Mr. Gosse, in speaking of the great similarity between the 
colours of these Reptiles and the leaves among which they live, 
says that on one occasion he was trying to catch a butterfly, when 
he suddenly saw that it was fluttering as if unable to get away. 
His first impression was that an invisible spider’s web was holding 
it, but on looking more closely he discovered that a little Anolis 
had the butterfly in its mouth. The Lizard’s colour was 
so exactly like that of the green leaves of the bush that he 
had not perceived it before, though his eyes were fixed upon the 
spot. 
