11.0 STORY OF THE REPTILES 



soms. Our own little green snakes are hard to see 

 in the grass. 



So likewise many small reptiles are sand -colored, 

 or resemble the dried dirt, dead leaves, etc., where 

 they hide. Many snakes and lizards also have the 

 ability to change their colors in the manner of some 

 frogs and the well-known chameleon. Our little 

 Florida lizard {Anolis) (see Fig. 52) is as good at 

 this as any of them, hence its spurious name. In this 

 case the colors are doubly protective. In the chame- 

 leon proper a lot of little colored granules or cells 

 lie far beneath the skin, and certain ones of these can 

 be brought to the surface by special muscles, and 

 others depressed. This is to be done consciously by 

 the creature, which seems to know what color is 

 required — since it has been found that blind chame- 

 leons do not change colors, but remain at their dark- 

 est in all lio^hts or on all hues. 



