THE CAMELEON. 



403 



The flesh of these may be considered as the 

 greatest delicacy of Africa and America ; and 

 the sportsmen of those climates go out to hunt 

 the iguana, as we do in pursuit of the pheas- 

 ant or the hare. In the beginning of the 

 season, when the great floods of the tropical 



this substance is fallen into the most absolute disrepute 

 among all medical practitioners. 



The slate-coloured Iguana is but three feet in length. 

 It inhabits the same places as the former species, and 

 may be merely a variety of it, in age or sex. Seba 

 derives it from the island of Formosa. 



The horned Iguana of St Domingo is about fonr feet 

 long. It is frequently found in the hills of St Domingo, 

 between Artibonite and Gonaives. It lives on fruits, 

 insects, and small birds, which it seizes with marvellous 

 agility, and during the day it couches on trees and rocks 

 to watch for its prey. During the night, and the entire 

 season of the great heats, it retires into the hollows of 

 rocks, or into the holes of old trees, and it passes about 

 five or six months of the year there in a state of lethargy. 

 This reptile is considered by the negroes as a delicious 

 meat, and is accordingly sought after by them with great 

 avidity. According to the report of the colonists, its 

 flesh resembles in flavour that of the roebuck, and the 

 maroon dogs make great slaughter among these reptiles. 

 The colours of this iguana are not precisely known. 



Some authors place here the iguana fasciata. Its 

 colour is deep blue, with transverse bands of a clearer 

 tint. The goitre is moderate, and not denticulated. 

 There is no large scale at the angle of the jaw. This 

 iguana belongs to the island of Java. It may probably 

 be the reptile which Bontius has named cameleon. It 

 is also probable, that to this species must be referred the 

 very large iguanas which are found at Batavia, and 

 which are sometimes as thick as a man's thigh. In his 

 voyage with Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks killed one 

 of these, which was five feet in length. 



Under the name of Basilisk is at present designated 

 a genus of reptiles, of this saurian order, which exhibits 

 many affinities with the iguanas and monitors. No ani- 

 mal, perhaps, has been the subject of so great a number 

 of prejudices as the one now under consideration. The 

 most ancient authors have spoken of the basilisk, as of a 

 serpent which had the power of striking its victim dead 

 by a single glance. Others have pretended that it could 

 not exercise this faculty, unless it first perceived the 

 object of its vengeance before it was itself perceived by it. 

 It was also most absurdly imagined to proceed from the 

 eggs of old cocks. Aldrovandus, and several other 

 writers have given figures of it. They have represented 

 it with eight feet, a crown on the head, and a hooked 

 and recurved beak. Pliny assures us that the serpent 

 named basilisk has a voice so terrible, that it strikes ter- 

 ror into all other species, that it thus chases them from 

 the spot which it inhabits, and of which it retains the 

 sole and undisputed dominion. The name, indeed, of 

 basilisk, B0-//u*0f, signifies royal. The fantastic forms, 

 and fabulous properties thus attributed to an animal, 

 which most probably never had any existence, rendered 

 this name too celebrated for naturalists not to endeavour 

 to apply it to another species, which accordingly they did. 

 Seba has figured a species of lizard, whose head is sur- 

 mounted with projecting lines, and the back furnished 

 with a broad vertical crest, which extends as far over the 

 tail, and which that author believed to be intended for 

 the purposes of flight. He has designated it under the 

 name of basilisk, or dragon of America, a flying amphibi- 

 ous animal. This is the animal which has subsequently 

 been described in all works of natural history under the 

 name of basilisk. Supplement to the English edition of 

 Gutter. 



climates are passed away, and vegetation 

 starts into universal verdure, the sportsmen 

 are seen, with a noose and a stick, wandering 

 along the sides of the rivers to take the iguana. 

 The animal, though apparently formed for 

 combat, is the most harmless creature of all 

 the forest : it lives among the trees, or sports 

 in the water, without ever offering to offend ; 

 there, having fed upon the flowers of the 

 mahot, and the leaves of the mapou, that grow 

 along the banks of the stream, it goes to repose 

 upon the branches of the trees that hang over 

 the water. Upon the land the animal is swift 

 of foot ; but when once in possession of a tree, 

 it seems conscious of the security of its situation, 

 and never offers to stir. There the sportsman 

 easily finds it, and as easily fastens his noose 

 round its neck : if the head be placed in such 

 a manner that the noose cannot readily be 

 fastened, by hitting the animal a blow on the 

 nose with the stick, it lifts the head, and offers 

 it in some measure to the noose. In this 

 manner, and also by the tail, the iguana is 

 dragged from the trees, and killed by repeated 

 blows on the head. 



The Cameleon is a very different animal; 

 and as the iguana satisfies the appetites of the 

 epicure, this is rather the feast of the philoso- 

 pher. Like the crocodile, this little animal 

 proceeds from an egg; and it also nearly re- 

 sembles that formidable creature in form ; but 

 it differs widely in its size and its appetites ; 

 being not above eleven inches long, and de- 

 lighting to sit upon trees, being afraid of ser- 

 pents, from which it is enabled to escape on 

 the ground. 



The head of a large cameleon is almost two 

 inches long; and from thence to the begin- 

 ning of the tail, four and a half : the tail is five 

 inches long, and the feet two and a half : the 

 thickness of the body is different at different 

 times ; for sometimes, from the back to ihe 

 belly, it is two inches, and sometimes but one ; 

 for it can blow itself up, and contract itself at 

 pleasure. This swelling and contraction is 

 not only of the back and belly but of the legs 

 and tail. 



These different tumors do not proceed from 

 a dilatation of the breast in breathing, which 

 rises and falls by turns ; but are very irregu- 

 lar, and seem adopted merely from caprice. 

 The cameleon is often seen, as it were, blown 

 up for two hours together ; and then it con- 

 tinues growing less and less insensibly ; for 

 the dilatation is always more quick and visi- 

 ble than the contraction. In this last state 

 the animal appears extremely lean ; the spine 

 of the back seems sharp, and all the ribs may 

 be counted ; likewise the tendons of the legs 

 and arms may be seen very distinctly. 



This method of puffing itself up, is similar 

 to that in pigeons, whose crops are sometimes 



