LIZARDS 93 



There are in all about sixty different kinds of Chame- 

 leons, about one-half occurring in Madagascar and the 

 neighbouring islands, the other half in Africa and Arabia ; 

 India and Ceylon yield a single species, as does Europe, 

 Chameleon vulgaris^ occurring in the southernmost parts 

 of Spain. Although the majority are of small size, attain- 

 ing a length of about ten inches, two species, Ch. verrucosus 

 and Ch. pardalis, both of Madagascar, grow to a length of 

 over two feet. 



These lizards are, of course, proverbial for the facility 

 with which they change colour, a faculty common to many 

 others, but which is, with the possible exception of those 

 of the genera Calotes and Agama, more striking in the 

 Chameleon than in any other reptile. They do not, as is 

 commonly supposed, directly assume the colour of their 

 environments, the changes being entirely due to light, 

 temperature, and emotions, the colour of their bodies 

 assuming a darker hue when exposed to strong light or 

 abnormal heat, and becoming pale when in the dark or 

 at a low temperature. 



Most Chameleons are oviparous, laying a great number 

 of eggs in a hole previously scraped out in the ground, 

 and which hatch some four to six months later, according 

 to the species and to the climatic conditions. They are 

 strictly arboreal ; C. namaquensis of South Africa, how- 

 ever, which is specially adapted to " Karoo " life, possessing 

 stouter limbs, is quite active on the ground ; it is brown 

 in colour, showing no trace at all of the prevailing green 

 tints of other forms. 



The Common Chameleon, C. vulgaris, of Southern 

 Spain, Syria, and North Africa, being particularly abundant 



