COMMON CHAMELEON. 26l 



The Stomach long and narrow ; the intestines 

 large. 



The Liver of a pretty firm substance, and of a 

 dark red colour. 



In the stomach (as may be supposed) were the 

 remains of insects. 



This Chameleon, during the time it lived, occa- 

 sionally evacuated from its intestines certain small 

 stony concretions of about the size of a pea, of 

 an apparently calcareous substance, and readily 

 dissolving in vinegar : one of them was found to 

 contain in its middle the head of a fly ; so that 

 they must necessarily have been formed in the 

 stomach or intestines of the animal*. 



The spine of the Chameleon, comprehending 

 the tail, consists of seventy-four vertebra, and 

 the ribs are eighteen on each side. 



The popular error of the Chameleon living on 

 air alone, must have originated from the long ab- 

 stinence which the animal can occasionally sup- 

 port ; instances having occurred of its passing 

 several months without any apparent nourish- 

 ment. 



Sir Thomas Browne, in a long and learned 

 chapter on this subject in his Vulgar Errors, ex- 

 presses himself in the following terms : 



" All which considered, severer heads will be 

 apt enough to conceive the vulgar opinion of this 

 animal, to be not much unlike that of the Astomi, 



* A kind of Bezoar is occasionally found in the stomach of the 

 common Guana ; instances of which may be found in the work of 

 Seba. 



