110 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



throughout the lowlands ot Louisiana; indeed, I have known in- 

 stances of two or three children capturing as many as twenty- 

 five or thirty in some old magnolia grove in the course of an hour 

 or two, and we may well imagine the number that would escape 

 from our juvenile collectors. It is certainly the exception, 

 though, that any one ever disturbs or injures, either in city or 

 forest, this inoffensive and harmless little creature; entitled as 

 we are, however, to claim this for ourselves, it must be remem- 

 bered, and it is a fact, not commonly known, that in the town and 

 its immediate neighborhood the chameleon has an uncompro- 

 mising enemy in the domestic cat. This animal, I have been in- 

 formed upon undoubted authority, will, when the opportunity 

 presents itself, pass anything, meat, birds, and even fish, if there 

 is the slightest chance of securing one of these lizards, of which 

 it seems to be so inordinately fond. The cat will stalk one, just 

 as w r e all have seen them attack some unsuspecting sparrow. 

 Should the lizard be on the trunk of a tree, and low down near 

 the ground, and the cat miss it in her spring, she will frequently, 

 in her disappointment, chase it up the tree, where of course the 

 reptile wins in such an unequal race. 



In the forest, Anolis, no doubt, has many another animal foe 

 that makes it its prey. Our smaller hawks often seize and de- 

 vour them, when they appear, and are exposed in the open. 



In addition to this, the chameleon is subject to other acci- 

 dents; its long tail is frequently broken off; this may grow out 

 again as it does in Ophisaurus, though I have in my possession a 

 specimen where this extremity healed over instead. Another 

 specimen in my collection has, some time or other, apparently 

 long anterior to capture, lost a foot ; in this case a very pretty lit- 

 tle stump has resulted, leaving a member of considerable use. 



I have, perched up before me, one of these little fellows that 

 was taken for my special benefit several days ago ; the reader is 

 presented with a very careful and accurately measured drawing 

 that I have made of him. They sometimes attain a length to ex- 

 ceed this one, by two or three centimeters, rarely more. His en- 

 tire form is covered with the most delicate and minute scales, 

 which are found to be larger along the borders of the jaws and 

 top of the head, where they are regularly arranged. The nostrils 

 are seen within the rounded border of the snout above, and the 

 bright, black little eyes peep out through longitudinal slits form- 

 ing the eyelids, the latter being at the base of rather sunken 



