COMMON CHAMELEON. 259 



pale state ; and we always found that when it grew 

 brownest, and its skin spotted, those grains which 

 we had marked, were always less brown than the 

 rest." 



The anatomy of the Chameleon has been well 

 detailed by the above-mentioned Academicians. 

 The principal abridged particulars are as follow: 



The JMouth is wide and the bones of the jaws 

 denticulated, so as to represent small teeth. 



The Tongue is of a very extraordinary form ; 

 being composed of a white solid flesh, about ten 

 lines long, and three broad, round, a little flattish 

 towards the end, hollow, and open, somewhat like 

 the end of an elephant's proboscis. This tongue is 

 fastened to the os hyoides by means of a sort of 

 trunk; shaped like an intestine, six inches long, and 

 a line broad, having a membrane without, and a 

 nervous substance within, which is solid and com- 

 pact, though soft, and not easily divisible into 

 fibres : this trunk serves to cast out the tongue, 

 which is fastened to it, bv extendinor it, and to 



/ O ' 



draw it back by contracting it, which motion it is 

 enabled to perform by a kind of cartilaginous 

 stylus to which its investing membrane is attached, 

 and over which it is plaited like a silk stocking 

 on the leg: this stylus is an inch long, and takes 

 its origin from the middle of the base of the os 



O 



hyoides, as in the tongue of several birds : a num- 

 ber of blood-vessels are distributed on the tongue. 

 The form, structure, and motion of the Eyes is 

 very peculiar : they are very large, viz. above five 

 lines in diameter; appearing spherical, projecting 



