THE CHAMELEON. 



503 



forpid, though some of them are gifted with great rapidity of move- 

 ment during certain seasons of the year. The Chameleon, however, 

 carries this sbjggishness to an extreme, its only change being from total 

 immobility to the slightest imaginable degree of activity. 



When it moves along the branch upon which it is clinging, the rep- 

 tile first raises one foot very slowly indeed, and will sometimes remain 

 foot in air for a considerable time, as if it had gone to sleep in the in- 

 terim. It then puts the foot as slowly forward, and takes a good grasp 

 of the branch. Having satisfied itself that it is firmly secured, it leis- 

 urely unwinds its tail, which has been tightly twisted round the branch, 

 shifts it a little forward, coils it round agam, and then rests for a while. 



The Chameleon (Chameleo vulgaris). 



With the same elaborate precaution each foot is successively lifted and 

 advanced, so that the forward movements seem but little faster than 

 the hour-hand of a watch. 



If placed on level ground, it is perforce obliged to walk, but it does 

 so very awkwardly, though it gets over the ground faster than would 

 be imagined from its movements on a tree. 



The food of the Chameleon consists of insects, mostly flies, but, like 

 many other reptiles, it is able to live for some months* without taking 

 food at all. This capacity for fasting, together with the singular man- 

 ner in which the reptile takes its prey, gave rise to the absurd fable 

 that it lived only upon air. To judge by external appearance, there 

 never was an animal less fitted than the Chameleon for capturing the 

 winged and active flies ; but when we come to examine its structure, 

 we find that it is even better fitted for this purpose than many of the 

 more active insect-eating Lizards. 



