504 THE SERPENT TRIBE. 



The tougue is the instrument by which the fly is captured, being first 

 deliberately aimed, like a billiard-player aiming a stroke with his cue, 

 and then darted out with singular velocity. This member is very mus- 

 cular, and is furnished at the tip with a kind of viscid secretion which 

 causes the fly to adhere to it. Its mouth is well furnished with teeth, 

 which are set firmly into its jaw, and enable it to bruise the insects 

 after getting them into its mouth by means of the tongue. 



The eyes have a most singular appearance, and are worked quite in- 

 dependently of each other, one rolling backward, while the other is di-^ 

 reeled forward or upward. There is not the least spark of expression 

 in the eye of the Chameleon, which looks about as intellectual as a green 

 pea with a dot of ink upon it. 



A few words on the change of color will not be out of place. 



I kept a Chameleon for a long time, and carefully watched its changes 

 of color. Its primary hue was gray-black, but other colors were con- 

 stantly passing over its body. Sometimes it would be striped like a 

 zebra with light yellow, or covered with circular yellow spots. Some- 

 times it was all chestnut and black like a leopard, and sometimes it was 

 brilliant green. Sometimes it would be gray, covered with black spots; 

 and once, when it was sitting on a branch, it took the hue of the au- 

 tumnal leaves so exactly that it could scarcely be distinguished from 

 them. A detailed account of this specimen is given in my Glimpses 

 into Petland. 



The young of the Chameleon are produced from eggs, which are very 

 spherical, white in color, and covered with a chalky and very porous 

 shell. They are placed on the ground under leaves, and there left to 

 hatch by the heat of the sun and the warmth produced by the decom- 

 position of the leaves. The two sexes can be distinguished from each 

 other by the shape of the tail, which in the male is thick and swollen 

 at the base. 



The large and important order at which we now arrive consists of 

 reptiles which are popularly known as Snakes, or more scientifically 

 as Ophidia, and to which all the true Serpents are to be referred. 



The movements of the Serpent tribe are performed without the aid 

 of lini])s, and are, as a general rule, achieved by means of the ribs and 

 the large curved scales that cover the lower surface. Each of these 

 scales overlaps its successor, leaving a bold horny ridge whenever it is 

 partially erected by the action of the muscles. The reader will easily 

 see that a reptile so constructed can move with some rapidity by suc- 

 cessively thrusting each scale a little forward, hitching the projecting 

 edge on any rough substance, and drawing itself forward until it can 

 repeat the process with the next scale. The movements are consequent- 

 ly very quiet and gliding, and the creature is able to pursue its way 

 under circumstances of considerable difficulty. 



