THE CHAMELEONS 2533 



other important feature by which these reptiles differ from lizards is the structure 

 of the feet, in which the toes are divided into two opposing branches, thus forming 

 grasping organs of great power. In the fore-foot the inner branch of the foot in- 

 cludes three, and the outer two toes, in the hind-foot precisely the reverse arrange- 

 ment obtains; and from this peculiar hand-like structure of the foot, which, by 

 the way, recalls the feet of the parrots and many Picarian birds, the chamseleons 

 have been spoken of as four-handed lizards. Yet another peculiarity in the struc- 

 ture of these reptiles is presented by the eye, which is in the form of a very large 

 and prominent globe covered by a thick granular lid, in the centre of which is a 

 minute perforation for the pupil. The deliberate way in which a chamseleon rolls 

 round one of these extraordinary eyes until it has focused it on the fly about to be 

 caught by the tongue is familiar to most of our readers. 



The foregoing are the essential features by which the chamseleons are distin- 

 guished from the lizards proper; those remaining for mention not being such as 

 would be regarded by zoologists as of subordinal importance. Among these may 

 be noticed the triangular helmet-like form generally assumed by the hinder part 

 of the head, which often has three longitudinal ridges, connected posteriorly by 

 a cross ridge, all of which are ornamented with tubercles. The teeth, which are 

 small, triangular, and compressed, are placed on the summits of the jaws in the 

 acrodont fashion, none being present on the palate. The body is much compressed, 

 and the neck short; the slender limbs are so much elongated as to raise the body 

 high above the ground in a manner different from ordinary lizards; the tail is long 

 and prehensile, thus acting as a fifth hand; and in place of scales, the head and body 

 are covered with tubercles or shagreen-like granules. The larger species attain a 

 length of some fifteen inches; but the dwarf chamseleon of Madagascar (Brookesia 

 nanus*) is less than two and one-half inches in length. 



The chamseleons include close on fifty species, all of which are comprised in the 

 single family Ckam&leontida, and by far the greater majority in the typical genus 

 Chameleon. Indeed, of the two aberrant genera, Brookesia is represented by three 

 species from Madagascar, while Rhampholeon comprises two tropical African kinds. 

 The true home of the group is Africa and Madagascar, together with the neighbor- 

 ing islands, each of these areas comprising nearly half of the known species. The 

 common chamaeleon (C. vulgaris) is, however, found on the African and Asiatic 

 coasts of the Mediterranean, entering Europe in Andalusia; while a second spe- 

 cies inhabits the isle of Socotra, a third Southern Arabia, and a fourth India and 

 Ceylon. 



Evidently extremely specialized creatures, chamaeleons stand alto- 

 gether apart from the lizards, not only as regards their anatomical 

 structure, but likewise in their power of moving one eye independently of the other, 

 in the enormous extensibility and protrusive power of their tongues, and in their 

 slow and deliberate movements. According, however, to those who have had the 

 opportunity of observing them in their native haunts, chamseleons do not move quite 

 so slowly as in confinement, where they take half a minute in determining which 

 limb to move, or on which bough to replace it. Passing the whole of their lives in 

 trees, like most of their Malagasy compatriots, the lemurs, chameeleons are chiefly 



