342 LEAVES PROM THE 



he wrapped up one which had been presented to hun in 

 a white handkerchief, and when he arrived at home pro- 

 ceeded to open it in order to examine the animal, but 

 could see nothing but the handkerchief. At last he de- 

 tected the chameleon, which had so completely acquired 

 the whiteness of the wi'apper as to be in\T-sible. 



The gentlemen who neaiiy lost theu' temper in dis- 

 puting about the colour of one of these reptiles were all 

 put in the wrong by him who 



Produc'd the beast, and, lo ! 'twas white. 



My experience supports the conclusions of Sonnini and 

 Milne Edwards as to the mutabihty of colour. When 

 the chameleon kept by me first came into my possession, 

 and was compai'atively vigorous, substances of various 

 colours were placed near it without its ever altering it« 

 hue accordingly, as far as I could perceive. It would 

 roll its eye and biing it to bear on the object, and some- 

 times the tints of the skin would rsnj, but not in unison 

 ^^'ith the adjacent colour. WTien it was clinging to the 

 dark bronze-work of the fender, enjojioig the heat of the 

 fire, I sometimes thought that its hue became more 

 sombre ; but this efiect was by no means constant. Gray, 

 Isabella colour, and pale yellow, with the spots or granules 

 vai'j'ing into green, gra}"ish or blackish, were the prevail- 

 ing changes; but I never saw it white. I have seen it 

 of a whitey-brown colom- ; and such was its prevailing 

 hue in its latter days, and at its death. 



The French Academicians seem to have come to the 

 conclusion, that the sun was a principal agent in such 

 changes. They describe the colour of the eminences of 

 their chameleon, when it was at rest in the shade and had 

 remained a long time undisturbed, as of a bluish gi'ay, 

 except under the feet, where it was white iuclining to 

 yellow, and the intervals of the granules of the skin were 

 of a pale and yellowish red. This changed when the 

 animal was in the sun ; and all the parts of its body which 



