THE CAMELEON. 33 



Various opinions of writers. 



and ugly it appeared ; but its shape was always 

 the most unpleasant when it was speckled. This 

 gentleman kept a cameleon for near a month; it 

 was, during the whole time, very nimble and 

 lively, climbing up and down its cage, fond of 

 feeing near the light, and constantly rolling aboui 

 its large eyes. It took no food during the whole 

 of this time, so that at last it became lean, and 

 evidently suffered from hunger. It could no 

 longer hold fast by the grating of the cage, but 

 fell through weakness, when a turtle, that was ia 

 the same room, bit it and hastened its death. 

 From this animal's being able to support long 

 abstinence, has arisen the vulgar notion of the 

 cameleon' s living only on air. 



Dr. Russel informs us, that when the cameleon 

 is removed from its place, it does not immedi- 

 ately change color, nor does it constantly, in 

 changing, assume that of the ground upon which 

 it is laid. u Thus," adds our author, " if put 

 into a box lined with white, or with black, it will 

 sometimes in the black become of a lighter color 

 than before, and vice versa; and sometimes will 

 assume a brimstone color. When the experiment 

 was made upon a cloth of various colors, but 

 where the animal had a larger field to move 

 about, the event was the same. It frequently 

 goes through a succession of colors before taking 

 that of the body nearest to it. When laid on 

 the grass it will, perhaps from a light earthy 

 color, first become darker, then black, yellow, 



VOL. VI. NO. 39. E 



