CHAPTER XV I. 



Tab. XXXI. — the chameleon, and gut of the sea-fox. 



Fig. 1. The chameleon, drawn from one of the species pre- 

 served m the Anatomy School, Christ Chm-ch, Oxford. The 

 eyes of this creature are very pecuhar : they are remarkably 

 large, and project more than half their diameter. They are 

 covered with a single eye-lid, with a small opening in it op- 

 posite the pupil. The eye-lid is granulated Uke every part of 

 the surface of the body, with this difference, over the eye the 

 granulations are disposed in concentric circles which form 

 folds in that part to which the eye is turned : and as the lid is 

 attached to the front of the eye, so it follows all its move- 

 ments. The neck is not " inflexible," but its shortness, and 

 the structure of the cervical vertebra? exceedingly limit the 

 motion ; this, however, is admirably compensated by the not 

 less singular local position than motion of the eye, as the an- 

 imal can see behind, before, or on either side, without turning 

 the head. 



Fig. 2. The spiral intestine of the sea-fox cut open ; taken 

 from a preparation in the museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons, London. The sea-fox is not, as Paley supposes, a 

 "quadruped ;" but a species of shark, (squalus vulpes.) The 

 convoluted intestinal tube is also found in some other genera 

 of fish. In this specimen the internal membrane is convert- 

 ed into a spiral valve, having thirty-six coils, so that the ah- 

 mentary substances, instead of passing speedily away, by 

 proceeding round the turns of the valve, traverse a very con- 

 siderable circuit : an extensive surface for the absorbents is 

 thus provided. 



Fig. 3. The spiral valve removed, showing the mode of its 

 coilinsr. 



