The Chameleon.— Maturation of Fruits. 227 
THE CHAMELEON. 
To the Editor of the Calcutta Journal. 
Sra,—For the information of those who are fond of the study 
of Natural History, I beg leave to make known a few remarks 
upon the Chameleon, from ocular demonstration. 
It is commonly believed that this curious little animal has the 
power of changing its colour at pleasure to the same shade as the 
substance upon which it is placed, and that its tongue is forked. 
I have kept Chameleons in a cage several months, narrowly 
watching them, and have placed them upon different substances 
for the sake of experiment. 1 never saw an alteration in their 
colour, but merely a variation in the shade, from a light yellowish 
green to a very dark olive green. The mottles were always visi- 
ble, though similarly changed with the shade. The Chameleon’s 
tongue, which is nearly three parts the length of his body, is blunt 
at the end, and not unlike a common probe. From the end of 
it exudes a small quantity of matter, thick, clear, and glutinous; 
this he uses in obtaining his prey, which consists entirely of in- 
sects. He will remain sometimes for. an hour with his tongue 
upon the ground, and when a sufficient quantity of insects has 
settled upon it, they are all drawn in and devoured. I have seen 
this animal dart at a fly settled upon a small piece of paper; the 
fly escaped, but the paper was drawn to the mouth by the cohe- 
sive liquid just referred to, and which | have several times parti- 
cularlyexamined. ‘The Chameleon possesses the quality, generally 
attributed to him, of a power of long fasting. 
I am, sir, yours obediently, 
A. 
MATURATION OF FRUITS. 
M. Berard has been engaged in a course of experiments to 
determine what chemical changes take place during the matura- 
tion, ripening and decay of fruits of various kinds, in the An- 
nales de Chimie: his general results are stated as follows; via. 
“Fruits act upon atmospherical air in a different manner to 
leaves. The former at all times, both in light and darkness, part 
with carbon to the oxygen of the atmosphere, to produce car- 
bouic acid, and this loss of carbon is essential to ripening, since 
the process stops if the fruit is immersed in an atmosphere de- 
prived of oxygen, and the fruit itself shrivels and dies. This oc- 
curs equally to those fruits which when gathered green are able 
to ripen of themselves, though separated from their parent tree ; 
but in these the ripening process may be by this means delayed 
for a certain time, and be completed on restoring them to an oxy- 
genized atmosphere, Inthis manner peaches, plums, apples, pears, 
&c. may be preserved unspoilt for from three to ten or twelve 
F £2 weeks 
