184 



ZOOLOGY. [Part II. 



decaying chinks of every ruined wall. In all their mo- 

 tion there is that vivid and brief energy, the rapid but 

 restrained action wliich is associated with their hmited 

 poAver of respiration, and which justifies the accurate 

 picture of — 



" The green lizard, rustling thro' the gi'ass, 

 And np the fluted shaft, with short, quick, spring 

 To vanish in the chinks which time has made."^ 



One of the most beautiful of tliis race is the green 

 calotes^, in length about twelve inches, which, with the 

 exception of a few darlc streaks about the head, is as 

 brilhant as tlie purest emerald or malachite. Unhke 

 its congeners of tlie same family, it never alters this 

 dazzhng hue, whilst many of them possess the power, 

 lil^e the chameleon, but in a less degree, of exchanging 

 their ordinary colours for others less conspicuous. The 

 C. ophiomaclms, and another, the C. versicolor, ex- 

 hibit this faculty in a remarkable manner. The head and 

 neck, when the animal is kritated or hastily swallowing 

 its food, becomes of a brilliant red (whence the latter has 

 acquired the name of the " blood-sucker "), whilst the 

 usual tint of the rest of the body is converted into pale 

 yelloAv. The sitana^, and a number of others, exhibit 

 similar phenomena. 



Chameleon. — The true chameleon^ is found, but not 

 in great numbers, in the diy districts in the north of 

 Ceylon, where it frequents the trees, in slow pursuit of 

 its insect prey. Wliilst the faculty of this creature to 

 blush all the colours of the rainbow has attracted the 

 wonder of all ages, sufficient attention has hardly been 

 given to the imperfect sympathy which subsists between 

 the two lobes of the brain, and the two sets of nerves 

 which permeate the opposite sides of its frame. Hence, 

 not only have each of the eyes an action quite indepen- 

 dent of the other, but one side of its body would appear 



1 KoGEKS' Pcestum. I ^ Sitana Ponticereana, Cuv. 



2 Calotes viridis; Gray. \ ^ Chamtelio vulgaris, Daucl 



