CHAMELEONS. 127 
formation of different parts of their bodies as for their remarkable 
habits of life. 
Chameleons have compressed bodies; the back round and 
projecting, or rather pyramidal; the skin granulated; the head 
angular, with salient occiput resting on a short and thick neck ; their 
legs are slender ; the toes five in number; the tail prehensile and 
round. The eyes are very large and protruding, their globes covered 
by a single shagreen-like eyelid, which the animal can dilate or 
contract at will, and which almost hides the small aperture in the 
centre, through which a brilliant eyeball can be perceived. The 
eyes in the Chameleon, which have a singular mobility, are thus 
completely enveloped, as if they were too delicate to sustain any 
glaring light. By certain special muscular arrangements they have 
the power to direct each eye on different objects even whether they 
be above or below. It is thus a common saying in France, applied 
to the Chameleon, ‘that it could look into Champagne and see 
Picardy in flames.” 
The vermiform and retractile tongue is also a most singular organ. 
It is cylindrical, about six inches long, terminating in a fleshy, 
dilatable, and somewhat tubular tip, which is covered with a glutinous 
secretion, by the aid of which it seizes its insect food. The feet have © 
five very long almost equally strong hooked claws, and the skin of 
the legs extends to their end, and unites them in a very peculiar 
manner. Not only is this skin attached to each of the toes, but it 
envelops them, and forms, as it were, two bunches—the one of three 
fingers, and the other of two. From this structure one can anticipate 
the extreme difference which exists between the habits of Chameleons 
and those of Lizards. These two bunches of long toes are placed in 
such a manner as to enable them to seize the branches of the trees 
on which they rest both with the fore and after part of the foot in the 
same manner as woodpeckers, cuckoos, and parrots, while their long 
and strong prehensile tail serves them as a fifth limb. Chameleons 
are better able to preserve their equilibrium upon trees than upon the 
ground; thus doubtless accounting for their preference for the former. 
Cautious, they move at all times very slowly, particularly when going 
from one branch to another. ‘Their prey and their enemies they can 
see from a great distance. The latter they readily avoid. As to the 
former, when the Chameleon arrives within range of the victim the 
tongue is projected with unerring precision, returning into the mouth 
with the prey adhering to the viscous tip. This tongue can be 
extended to a length sometimes surpassing that of their body. The 
skin of the Chameleon does not adhere to the muscles everywhere ; 
