Chap. 51.] THE CHAMELEON. 303 



the stag, but then it produces the chameleon, 69 although it is 

 much mere commonly met with in India. Its figure and size 

 are that of a lizard, only that its legs are straight and longer. 

 Its sides unite under its belly, as in fishes, and its spine pro- 

 jects in a similar manner. Its muzzle is not unlike the snout 

 of a small hog, so far as in so small an animal it can be. Its 

 tail is very long, and becomes smaller towards the end, coiling 

 up in folds like that of the viper. It has hooked claws, and 

 a slow movement like that of the tortoise ; its body is rough 

 like that of the crocodile ; its eyes are deep sunk in the orbits, 

 placed very near each other, very large, and of the same 

 colour as the body. It never closes them, and when the 

 animal looks round, it does so, not by the motion of the pupil, 

 but of the white of the eye. 60 It always holds the head up- 

 right and the mouth open, and is the only animal which re- 

 ceives nourishment neither by meat nor drink, nor anything 

 else, but from the air alone. 61 Towards the end of the dog-days ** 

 it is fierce, but at other times quite harmless. The nature 

 of its colour, too, is very remarkable, for it is continually 

 changing; its eyes, its tail, and its whole body always 

 assuming the colour of whatever object is nearest, with the 

 exception of white and red. 63 After death, it becomes of a 



they have seen stags in this country, had really met with gazelles, which 

 they mistook for those animals ; Ajasson, vol. vi. p.. 451 ; Lemaire, vol. 

 iii. p. 453. B 



59 Cuvier remarks, that Pliny's account of the chameleon appears to be 

 taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 11, but that it is less correct. 

 He notices Aristotle's account of the eye, which is more accurately given 

 than the account of Pliny ; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 451, 452 ; Lemaire, vol. iii. 

 p. 454. B. The chameleon receives its name from the Greek %/iae 

 Xea>v, " the lion on the ground." 



See B. xi. c. 55. 



61 One of those popular errors which have descended from the ancients 

 to our times ; the chameleon feeds on insects, which it seizes by means of 

 its long flexible tongue ; the quantity of food which it requires appears, 

 however, to be small in proportion to its bulk. B. 



62 " Circa caprificos." Some commentators would understand this in 

 reference to the wild fig-tree, and take it to mean that the animal is more 

 furious when in its vicinity. The conjecture of Hardouin, however, seems 

 more reasonable. He takes "caprificos" to mean the same as the "capri- 

 ficialis dies," mentioned in B. xi. c. 15, as being sacred to Vulcan, and 

 falling towards the end of the dog-days. 



63 This is another of the erroneous opinions respecting the chameleon, 

 which has been very generally adopted. It forms the basis of Merrick's 



