NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 349 



neck and its enormous occiput forbid it to turn its head, 

 which it can no more do than a carp or a codfish, the 

 sweep of its vision is very great. Take up a chameleon's 

 skull, and observe how large a space is occupied by the 

 orbits. In these capacious receptacles ample room is 

 afforded for the large globe and the muscles which are to 

 direct it. The pupil looks like an animated gem set in 

 shagreen, and this versatile globe is capable of the most 

 varied and extensive direction. This, as worthy Dr. Goddard 

 says, ' she turneth backward or any way, without moving 

 her head; and ordinarily the one a contrary or quite dif- 

 ferent way from the other.' 



But (as another old writer observes) what is most extraordinary 

 in this motion is to see one of the eyes move whilst the other 

 remains immovable ; and the one to tm-n forward, at the same 

 time that the other looketh behind ; the one to look up to the sky, 

 when the other is fixed on the ground. And these motions to be 

 so extreme, that they do carry the pupilla under the crest which 

 makes the eyebrow, and so far into the canthi, or corners of the 

 eyes, that the sight can discern whatever is done just behind it, 

 and directly before, without turning the head, which is fastened to 

 the shoulders. 



The vermiform tongnie of the woodpecker is known to 

 most who have shot one, and the same organ is the prin- 

 cipal agent by which the chameleon takes its prey. Like 

 that of the woodpecker, the tongue of the chameleon can 

 be protruded to a considerable length. In the reptile, 

 this organ is projected in a cylindrical and apparently 

 erectile state from the sheath at the lower part of the 

 mouth, where it remains when at rest, to the length of 

 half-a-foot, and returns with a fly or other insect adher- 

 ing to its glutinous tip, when the prey is secured within 

 the teeth, which have no true roots, their trilobated 

 crowns appearing to be soldered upon the edge of the 

 upper part of a groove hollowed in the maxillary bone, 

 and looking like an enamelled and denticulated finish to 

 that edge. 



