REPTILES. 



Skeleton of the Chameleon. 



The Common Chameleon is a native of Egypt and Northern Africa, as also of the south of Spain and 

 Sicily. A kindred species inhabits India. It is a very singular creature, one of its peculiarities being its 

 variations of color. And one curious fact connected with these variations is, that the two halves of the 

 bod} r may show a different tint at the same time. Dr. Weissenborn attributes this to separate galvanic or 

 nervous currents directed to the two sides of the body, independently of each other. 



The Alligator, or Cayman, a species of Crocodile, is peculiar to America, and thus distinguished; the 

 head is broad ; the muzzle oblong and depressed ; the teeth arc of unequal length ; the hinder limbs are 

 rounded and without the scales pertaining to those of the tree Crocodile, the webs between the toes are 

 much, less developed. Several species are known, which are more or less distinguishable by certain 

 peculiarities. 



This animal inhabits fresh water only. It attains the length of twenty feet, and is abundant in the 

 Mississippi and in the lakes and rivers of Louisiana and Carolina. It is very dangerous, attacking both men 

 and beasts, while bathing or crossing streams. Its principal food, however, is fish, which it takes chiefly by 

 night. Numbers of them, assemble for this purpose at the mouth of some secluded creek, send forth a 

 bellowing like that of bulls, which may be heard, in the still evening, a mile off. 



When about laying the female digs a deep hole in the sandy or soft bank of the river, and deposits her 

 eggs in layers, separating each layer from the next by interweaving leaves, dry grass, and mud. Their 

 number is fifty or sixty. These she watches vigilantly till the young appear, which, for some months, she 

 leads about and protects So numerous, however, are the enemies, that rarely more than half the brood 

 reach the water. On the approach of winter these creatures bury themselves under the mud of swamps 

 nnd marshes and sink into a slumber so profound, that the severest wounds will not rouse them. 



Chameleon. 



(321) 



WPMk 



Chain 



Alligator 



