THE LIZARD KIND. 



721 



there is no feeling the beating of the heart. 

 The surface of the skin is unequal, and has 

 a grain not unlike shagreen, but very soft, be- 

 cause each eminence is as smooth as if it were 

 polished. Some of these little protuberances 

 are as large as a pin's head, on the arms, legs, 

 belly, and tail ; but on the shoulders and head 

 they are of an oval figure, and a little larger: 

 those under the throat are ranged in the Ibrm 

 of a chaplet, from the lower lip to the breast. 

 The colour of all these eminences, when the 

 chameleon is at rest in a shady place, is of a 

 bluish gray, and the space between is of a 

 pale red and yellow, 



But when the animal is removed into the 

 sun, then comes the wonderful part of its his- 

 tory. At first it appears to suffer no change 

 of colour, its grayish spots still continuing the 

 same : but the whole surface soon seems to 

 imbibe the rays of light; and the simple co- 

 louring of the body changes into a variety of 

 beautiful hues. Wherever the light comes 

 upon the body, it is of a tawny brown; but 

 that part of the skin on which the sun does 

 not shine, changes into several brighter co- 

 lours, pale yellow, or vivid crimson: which 

 forms spots of the size of half one's finger: 

 some of these descend from the spine half 

 way down the back ; and others appear ou 

 the sides, arms, and tail. When the sun has 

 done shining, the original gray colour returns 

 by degrees, and covers all the body. Some- 

 times the animal becomes all over spotted 

 with brown spots, of a greenish cast. When 

 it is wrapt up in a white linen cloth for two 

 or three minutes, the natural colour becomes 

 much lighter; but not quite white, as some 

 authors have pretended: however, from hence 

 it must not be concluded that the chameleon 

 assumes the colour of the objects which it 

 approaches; this is entirely an error, and 

 probably has taken its rise from the continual 

 changes it appears to undergo. 



Le Bruyn, in his Voyage to the Levant, has 

 given us a very ample description of the cha- 

 meleon. During his stay at Smyrna, he bought 

 several of this kind ; and to try how long they 

 could live, kept four of them in a cage, per- 

 mitting them at times to run about the house. 

 The fresh sea-breeze seemed to give them 

 most spirits and vivacity ; they opened their 

 mouths to take it in ; he never perceived that | 



they eat any thing, except now and then a 

 fly, which they took half an hour to swallow: 

 he observed their colour often to change, three 

 or four times successively, without being able 

 to find out any cause tor such alterations; 

 their common colour he found to be gray, or 

 rather a pale mouse colour; but its most fre- 

 quent changes were into a beautiful green, 

 spotted with yellow; sometimes the animal 

 was marked all over with dark brown; and 

 this often changed into a lighter brown : some 

 colours, however, it never assumed ; and, con- 

 trary to what was said above, he found red 

 to be among the number. 



Though our traveller took the utmost care, 

 he was unable to preserve any of them nlive 

 above five months; and many of them died 

 in four. W hen the chameleon changes place, 

 and attempts to descend from an eminence, 

 it moves with the utmost precaution, ad- 

 vancing one leg very deliberately before the 

 other, still securing itself by holding what- 

 ever it can grasp by the tail. It seldom opens 

 its mouth, except for fresh air; and when 

 that is supplied, discovers its satisfaction by 

 its motions, and the frequent changes of its 

 colour. The tongue is sometimes d.irted out 

 after its prey, which is flies; and this is as 

 long as the whole body. The eyes are re- 

 markably little, though they stand out of the 

 head : they have a single eye-lid, like a cap 

 with a hole in the middle, through which the 

 sight of the eye appears, which is of a shining 

 brown; and round it there is a little circle 

 of a gold colour: but the most extraordinary 

 part of their conformation is, that the animal 

 often moves one eye, when the other is entire- 

 ly at rest; nay, sometimes one eye will seem 

 to look directly forward, while the other looks 

 backward; and one will look upward, while 

 the other regards the earth. 



To this class of lizards, we may refer the 

 Dragon, a most terrible animal, but most pro- 

 bably not of nature's formation. Of thisdeath- 

 dealing creature all people have read ; and 

 the most barbarous countries, to this day, paint 

 it to the imagination in all its terrors, and fear 

 to meet it in every forest. It is not enough 

 that nature has furnished those countries with 

 poisons of various malignity ; with serpents 

 forty feet long; with elephants, lions, and ti- 

 gers ; to make their situation really danger* 



