516 Beptites. 



of the firmness of the rest. From these precautions, its 

 motions have a ridiculous appearance of gravity, when 

 contrasted with the srnallness of its size, and the activity 

 that might be expected from an animal so nearly allied 

 to some of the most lively in the creation. Though the 

 Chameleon is repulsive in its appearance, it is perfectly 

 harmless. It feeds only on insects, for which the struc- 

 ture of its tongue is well adapted, being long and pro- 

 trusive, and furnished with a dilated, glutinous, and 

 somewhat tubular tip. With this it seizes on insects 

 with the greatest ease, darting it out and immediately 

 retracting it, with the prey thus secured, which it swal- 

 lows whole. The strange notion that Chameleons were 

 able to feed on air, seems to have arisen merely from 

 the circumstance of these animals, like all others of 

 the lizard family, being able to subsist for a great length 

 of time without food. The eyes of the Chameleon have 

 the singular property of looking at the same instant in 

 different directions ; one of them may be seen to move 

 when the other is at rest, or one will be directed for- 

 ward, whilst the other is attending to some object behind, 

 or in a similar manner upward and downward. It has 

 the power of inflating its body to double its ordinary 

 size, and at these times it is transparent. It can un- 

 doubtedly change its colour, but it is not true that it 

 takes that of any object it may be near. On the con- 

 trary, its change of colour depends on its being exposed 

 to a very strong light; and it only changes from its 

 natural dull grey to a beautiful green, spotted unequally 

 with red. Africa is the native country of the Chame- 

 leons, of which there are fourteen species ; but two of 

 1 em are found also in different parts of Asia and New 

 Holland, and one ((7. vulgaris) in the south of Europe; 

 but this animal has never been found in any part of 

 America. 



