CONTENTS. XV 



taking it by the ancient fisliermen — Crocodiles and gladiators 

 — Supposed medicinal uses of the Crocodile — Peculiarities in 

 the organization of the Crocodilian family — Difference be- 

 tween the Alligator and the Crocodile — Food of the AUigator 

 — Their mode of reproduction — Eavenous and ferocious dis- 

 position — Capture of an Alligator, as related by Sir Hans 

 Sloane — The Alligator's habit of swallowing stones — General 

 remarks t). 297 



CHAPTER XIIL 



The Chameleon — Its habits — Change of colour, and living on 

 air : the former well founded, the latter a fallacy — Hassel- 

 quist's experiments — A tame Chameleon — Conclusion as to 

 the principal agent in change of colour — D'Obsonville's 

 opinion — Structure and properties of the colorific stratum of 

 the skin — Mechanism by which changes of colour are effected 

 in the marine animals generally — Form of the Chameleon — 

 Mode of taking its prey — Pliny's account — The Chameleon 

 eaten by the Chinese — Supposed virtue of various parts of the 

 PeptUe — Its medicinal properties — The Viper — Its organiza- 

 tion — Mode of destroying the tribe — Capture of a Pock- 

 Snake — Its extraordinary dimensions — A Malay crushed to 

 death by a Serpent — Captain Stedman's encounter with a 

 Snake — Eircher's account of the benefit derived by man from 

 the Serpent race — Carver's instances of its docUity — Snake- 

 worship — Serpent-idols at Mexico p. 336 



CHAPTER XIV. 



General remarks upon climate — Condition of the Hippopotamus 

 at the Society's gardens — The great Land-Tortoise there — 

 Escape of the "White Bear — Its capture — Improvement sug- 

 gested in keeping the PeptUes — Serpents, and their food — 

 Supposed virtue of the fat of Serpents — A negro bitten by a 



