32 



the East Indies,are said to be between five and twenty 

 and thirty. It may well be said of him, (which can- 

 not be said of the whale) that his scales are his 

 pride, for on his back as well as on his head, they 

 are impenetrable as steel. No creature dares with- 

 stand him. He is the king of all the children of 

 pride. And as every female crocodile lays some him- 

 dreds of eggs at once, they would utterly dispeople 

 the waters, were it not that (he male devours all ^ie 

 can find of them. And so diligent is he in his search, 

 that scarce one out of a hundred escapes him. Jt is 

 another instance of divine mercy, that he cannot 

 bite under water. By this circumstance, creatures 

 that are able to dive generally escape his ravenous 

 jaws. It is a vulgar error, that he moves the upper 

 he moves the lower only. 



The Cameleon (as well as the alligator) is of the 

 Mzard-kind. Some in ^gypt arc twelve inches 

 long ; but the Arabian seldom exceeds six. He has 

 four feet, and a long flat tail, whereby he hangs an 

 trees, as well as by his feet. His snout is long 

 his back sharp, and grained like shagreen. He has 

 no ears, neither does he make or receive any sound, 

 The tongue is half the length of the animal, round to 

 the tip, which is flat and hollow, somewhat like au 

 elephant's trunk. And this he darts out and draws 

 back with surprising swiftness. The great use of this 

 is, to catch flies, (which are its proper food, not the 

 ;iir, as is vulgarly thought) by darting it out upon 

 them. Its colour is not always the same. One at 

 Paris, when it was in the shade, and at rest, was of a 

 bluish grey. In the sunshine this changed to adarker 

 grey, and its less illumined parts to various colours. 

 When handled or stirred, it appeared speckled with 

 dark spots bordering upon green, if it was wrapt 

 up a few minutes in a linen cloth, it was sometimes 

 taken out whitish. But it did not take the colour of 

 any other cloth or substance that enclosed it."" So 

 that its assuming all the colours it comes near, is a 

 groundless imagination, 



