THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



189 



tacle of the moth fluttering up to the 

 spider, sometimes two or even three 

 times before it was caught, is one of the 

 most interesting little processes which 

 the writer has ever witnessed in natural 

 liistory. The supi^osed desire of the moth 

 for the star is a poet's fancy, but the 

 attraction of the moth to the Dicrosti- 

 chus, although mysterious, can be seen 

 by any patient watcher. 



The globule is composed of most ten- 

 acious material, and quite large leaves 

 can be suspended on it by a mere touch. 

 I'he spider can be artificially fed by 

 holding a moth to the hanging globule, 

 to which it can be transfixed by the 

 sliglitest contact. Occasionally the fila- 

 ment and globule will be drawn up and 



another manufactured. The spider will 

 ignore a moth which is artifically placed 

 along its upper lines, and apparently its 

 one method of catching them is by the 

 filament and globule. The moth is as 

 helpless when touched by the globule as 

 is a fly on fly-paper. When the insect 

 is secured on the sticky globule it is 

 pulled up, and killed by an injection of 

 venom; it is then neatly bound in a little 

 bundle, leisurely placed in line with the 

 spider's head and there held and sucked, 

 the wing-s being ultimately discarded. 



Probably the study of allied species 

 will reveal other stages in the evolution 

 of this curious habit. Celaenia excavata, 

 which makes small spherical cocoons, is 

 also without a web. 



The Chameleon. 



By J. R. KiNGHORx. 



ALTHOUGH the ChameJeon is not an 

 Australian reptile its name is fami- 

 liar to us, and the animal causes a 

 fair amount of discussion from time to 

 time. Its true home is Africa, but it has 

 extended to Madagascar, Ceylon and wes- 

 tern Asia, only one species being known 

 from India. It is so far removed in 

 structure from an ordinary lizard that 

 it has been placed in a suborder all by 

 itself, the Rhiptoglossa, comprising only 

 one family, the Chamaelodontida,e, in 

 which there are about forty-five species 

 known to science. 



The body is high and compressed 

 laterally, the head, which is very angu- 

 lar, resembles a hood, and the tail is 

 short and prehensile; that is to say, it 

 can be used after the manner of an ex- 

 tra limb, being curled round branches 

 to enable the reptile to gain an extra 

 hold as it moves about. All the feet 

 are also prehensile ; this is made pos- 

 sible by a peculiar structure in the arti- 

 culation of the digits, the toes being 

 bound together in opposite bundles. In 



the fore feet the inner bundle contains 

 three and the outer two, while this order 

 IS reversed in the hind feet. The eyes 

 are remarkable both as to their structure 

 and their independent relationship ; they 

 each rise out of a sunken pit, and re- 

 semble large skin-covered cones, each 

 perforated by a minute hole (the pupil 

 opening) at the apex. I'.eing indepen- 

 dent of action, one eye can be watching 

 an object ahead,, while the other searches 

 about in all directions for possible pi'ey. 

 The tongue is extremely long and ex- 

 tensile, and broadens out into a club- 

 shaped lump towards the tip, and, Avhen 

 fully extended, is seven or eight inches 

 long. The tip is covered with a sticky 

 fluid, and, as the tongue can be shot 

 out with perfect aim, woe betide the un- 

 wary fly which comes within range. 



Some years ago one of the members 

 of the Museum staff kept a living 

 chameleon as a pet in his room and its 

 movements caused us much merriment 

 It was exceptionally slow and seemed 

 to take a long time to make up its mind 



