THE CRAMJELEON. 



293 



Chamseleon* is from Fernando Po, and the male has a long horn over each eye, and another at the 

 end of the muzzle. Giinther's Chamceleon montium has its male with two nearly straight horns pro- 

 jecting horizontally in front of the nostrils, and their sheath is finely annulated ; the horns are half as 

 long as the head. It has a high crest on the back and part of the tail. In the female the horns are 

 mere projections. The colour is a mixture of yellow, green, and black. With regard to the habits of 

 the small South African kind, and to its viviparous nature, Moseley writes in his "Notes on the Chal- 

 lenger" ; " A small Chamseleon is abundant 

 everywhere on the hedges near Cape Town, 

 South Africa. We had one alive in the 

 ward-room ; it was quite tame, and rested 

 quietly on a bunch of twigs, hung up to the 

 lamp rail, and would whip flies out of one's 

 fingers, at a distance of at least four inches, 

 with its tongue. It gave birth to three 

 young ones one night. They twisted their 

 tails round the twigs on which the mother 

 was reposing, at once, and directly began, 

 catching flies; but our house-flies were too 

 SLEEPING CHAMELEON UNDER LAMP- LIGHT, WITH DORSAL PART big for their mouths to swallow, and they 

 PROTECTED BY A SCREEN. na( j fo cnew awa y a t them for a long time be- 



( Unprotected portion in this experiment is of darkish green colour; protected " .. - , 



portion appears like a brownish saddle.) tore they COUld get any JU1C6 Out OI them. 



Most species lay eggs under leaves. 



The changing of the colour of its skin by the Chamseleon has made the curiously-shaped reptile 

 most interesting. This power is not restricted to them, however, but they possess it above all other 

 reptiles and amphibians. The change of colour appears to be produced to a certain extent by 

 the will and passions of the Chamseleon, by an involuntary 

 habit which enables its tints to correspond with the natural 

 substances on which it is placed, and also to have some 

 relation in certain cases to the sun's rays. The skin, so 

 readily stretched and inflated by the enlarging lungs, may 

 be rendered thin, transparent, and some of it more vas- 

 cular than the rest. 



There are minute corpuscles of different colours in the skin of the 

 Chamseleon, which are sometimes hidden in the depths of the dermis (true 

 skin), and sometimes spread out on its surface layers in a kind of interlacing 

 network. There is also a yellow colouring-matter, and a bluish layer in the 

 skin becoming yellow by transmitted light, and blue on an absorbent 

 ground. Now, during sleep, or if the reptile is placed under the influence 

 of chloroform, the whole body becomes yellowish-white. If light be 

 allowed to fall on the reptile thus situated, a dark tint comes over tha 

 skin. The light coming through dark blue glass does the same, but noi 

 through red and yellow glasses. Sections of nerves and of the brain produce 



remarkable changes in colour, and it appears to be the case that the various CHAMELEON UNDER SUN- 

 colours and tints assumed are due to the change of position of the coloured 

 corpuscles which, according as they bury themselves under the dermis, or 

 form an opaque ground beneath the coerulescent layer, or spread out a 

 superficial ramification, either leave the skin its yellow colour, or give it 

 green and black colours. The movements of the corpuscles are governed 

 by two kinds of nerves, some of which cause them to travel from its 

 depths towards the surface, while the others produce the opposite effect. 

 When greatly irritated these corpuscles conceal themselves beneath the 

 true skin. This is also the case in sleep and death and anaesthesia. 



* Chamceleon oweni. 

 180 



LIGHT PASSING THROUGH 

 RED AND BLUE GLASS, 

 LIGHT PASSING THROUGH 

 RED GLASS FALLING ON 

 FORE PART OF BODY, AND 

 THAT PASSING THROUGH 

 THE BLUE ON THE HIND 

 PART. 



(In this experiment the body seems 

 to be divided into two parts, the 

 anterior of a clear green with no 

 spots, the posterior of a darkish 

 green.) 



