172 CHAMELEONS. 



(clavicles); while there are likewise certain distinctive features in connection with 

 the skull, into the consideration of which it will be unnecessary to enter in this 

 work. Another important feature by which these reptiles differ from lizards is 

 the structure of the feet, in which the toes are divided into two opposing branches, 

 thus forming grasping organs of great power. In the fore-foot the inner branch 

 of the foot includes three, and the outer two toes, in the hind-foot precisely the 

 reverse arrangement obtains; and from this peculiar hand -like structure of the 

 foot, — which, by the way, recalls the feet of the parrots and many Picarian birds, 

 — the chamaeleons have been spoken of as four-handed lizards. Yet another 

 peculiarity in the structure of these reptiles is presented by the eye, which is in 

 the form of a very large and prominent globe covered by a thick granular lid, in 

 the centre of which is a minute perforation for the pupil. The deliberate way in 

 which a chamaeleon rolls round one of these extraordinary eyes until it has focused 

 it on the fly about to be caught by the tongue is familiar to most of our readers. 



The foregoing are the essential features by which the chamaeleons are dis- 

 tinguished from the lizards proper ; those remaining for mention not being such as 

 would be regarded by zoologists as of subordinal importance. Among these may be 

 noticed the triangular helmet-like form generally assumed by the hinder part of 

 the head, which often has three longitudinal ridges, connected together posteriorly 

 by a cross-ridge, all of which are ornamented with tubercles. The teeth, which are 

 small, triangular, and compressed, are placed on the summits of the jaws in the 

 acrodont fashion, none being present on the palate. The body is much compressed, 

 and the neck short ; the slender limbs are so much elongated as to raise the body 

 high above the ground in a manner different from ordinary lizards ; the tail is 

 long and prehensile, thus acting as a fifth hand ; and in place of scales, the head 

 and body are covered with tubercles or shagreen-like granules. The larger species 

 attain a length of some 15 inches; but the dwarf chamaeleon of Madagascar 

 (Brookesia nanus) is less than 1\ inches in length. 



The chamaeleons include close on fifty species, all of which are comprised in 

 the single family Chamatleontidca, and by far the greater majority in the typical 

 genus Chamceleon. Indeed, of the two aberrant genera, Brookesia is represented 

 by three species from Madagascar, while Rhampholeon comprises two tropical 

 African kinds. The true home of the group is Africa and Madagascar, together 

 with the neighbouring islands, each of these areas comprising nearly half of the 

 known species. The common chamaeleon (C. vulgaris) is, however, found on the 

 African and Asiatic coasts of the Mediterranean, entering Europe in Andalusia ; 

 while a second species inhabits the Isle of Socotra, a third Southern Arabia, and a 

 fourth India and Ceylon. 



Evidently extremety specialised creatures, chamaeleons stand 

 altogether apart from the lizards, not only as regards their anatomical 

 structure, but likewise in their power of moving one eye independently of the other, 

 in the enormous extensibility and protrusive power of their tongues, and in their 

 slow and deliberate movements. According, however, to those who have had the 

 opportunity of observing them in their native haunts, chamaeleons do not move 

 quite so slowly as in confinement, where they take half a minute in determining 

 which limb to move, or on which bough to replace it. Passing the whole of their 



