The Chameleon. 



515 



THE CHAMELEON. (Chamodeo vulgaris.) 



" A lizard's body, lean and long, 

 A fish's head, a serpent's tongue ; 

 Its foot with triple claw disjoin'd ; 

 And what a length of tail behind ! 

 How slow its pace ! and then its hue !" 



MERBICK. 



THE CHAMELEON is a small animal, about ten inches 

 long, and its tail nearly the same length. Its body is 

 covered with small compressed scaly granules ; its back 

 is edged, and its tail round, long, and tapering. Its 

 feet have each five toes, which are situated three one 

 way and two another, in order to enable it to lay firm 

 hold of the branches; but wherever it happens that 

 these are too large for the animal to grasp with its feet, 

 it coils round them its long, prehensile tail, and fixes its 

 claws strongly into the bark. When walking on the 

 ground, it steps forward in an extremely cautious man- 

 ner, seeming never to lift one foot until it is well assured 



