fish that he observed, which from his de- 

 scription was undoubtedly a Gar Pike. 

 He says : "Among- the rest there is one 

 called by the Indians of the country 

 Chaousaron, of divers lengths. The lar- 

 gest, I was informed by the people, are 

 eight to ten feet. I saw one of five as 

 thick as a thigh, with a head as big as 

 two fists, with jaws two and one-half 

 feet long, and a double set of very sharp 

 and dangerous teeth. The form of the 

 body resembles that of the pike, and it is 

 armed with scales that the thrust of a 

 poniard cannot pierce, and it is of a sil- 

 ver-gray color. The point of the snout 

 is like that of a hog. This fish makes war 



on all others in the lakes and rivers, and 

 possesses, as these people assure me, a 

 wonderful instinct, which is, that if it 

 wants to catch any birds it goes among 

 the rushes or reeds bordering the lake 

 in many places, keeping the beak out of 

 the water without budging, so that when 

 the birds perch on the beak, imagining it 

 the limb of a tree, it is so subtle that 

 closing the jaws, which it keeps half 

 open, it draws the birds under water by 

 the feet. The Indians gave me a head 

 of it, which they prize highly, saying that 

 when they have a headache they let blood 

 with the teeth of this fish at the seat of 

 pain, which immediately goes away." 

 Seth Mindw^ell. 



THE CHAMELEON OF OUR SOUTHERN STATES. 



In the first place he is not a Chameleon 

 at all — this little native of the south 

 whom we sometimes see hawked about 

 our northern streets by novelty-venders 

 in the wake of circus parades — who has 

 even been doomed to slavery and fastened 

 by gold manacles to the silken gowns of 

 novelty-seeking women, but who at home 

 among his own green vines and brooding 

 sunshine is a fitting and attractive accom- 

 paniment of southern life. 



For the true Chameleon we must go 

 much farther, to Africa or Madagascar, 

 or in the case of one species to some parts 

 of Europe or India. We should find him 

 a curiously constructed creature, with a 

 prehensile tail, with toes specially fitted 

 for grasping twigs of trees, with a stumpy 

 horny head almost immovable, but with 

 curious tongue and eyes which make up 

 in intelligence and power of motion — the 

 eyes seemingly able to reach in any direc- 

 tion, and the tongue a long club-shaped 

 arrangement which can shoot itself out 

 for several inches and gather insects on 

 its swollen stickv end. 



It is, of course, the chameleon-like 

 power of changing the color of his skin 

 which has given this name to our lizard 

 acquaintance, and as names once given 

 are not easily gotten rid of, it would per- 

 haps not be a bad idea to put him down 

 permanently as the Chameleon-lizard. 

 For he is really a lizard, one of the small- 

 est of the nearly two thousand species 

 known, and in the books he answers to 

 the name Anolis. In real life, unfortu- 

 nately, he cannot answer to any name, 

 nor even to sentiments of any sort, how- 

 ever invitingly expressed, as he is utterly 

 and absolutely without a voice. Still, 

 he has compensations even for this lack. 



Judging from our Chameleon's sluggish 

 blood, from the wav he has of taking long 

 sun baths on some particular spot of vine 

 or fence, from his finding his way into the 

 house when cold weather comes and 

 spending the winter hidden away in dark 

 corners or perched high up on some win- 

 dow screen or lace curtain, one can im- 

 agine him to be a sort of domestic animal, 

 having his home and keeping it, in a cei- 



226 



