493 
NOTES ON SOME LIZARDS, FROGS AND HUMAN BEINGS IN THE 
NILGIRI HILLS. 
BY 
Con. F.. Wau, I. M.8.,.¢. M. 2.8 
LACERTILIA. 
Chameleo calcaratus.x—The Indian Chameleon. 
Tsaw several specimens of this lizard, chiefly at low elevations (below 3,000 fect). 
It ascends to the height of Coonoor (6,200 feet) and possibly above this. When 
molested it hisses loudly and bites a stick or other object with great malice. A 
lady brought me one that she encountered on the road to Lamb’s Rock, It 
made so much noise and was so menacing that her rickshaw cooly was scared and 
refused to go further. Not knowing in the least what she was dealing with, she 
endeavoured, in spite of her alarm, to catch it, and finally succeeded single-handed 
in getting it into her semi-closed umbrella. Here it swore audibly all the way 
back and although the cooly had strenuously opposed rendering any assistance in 
the capture he demanded extra “ bakshish ” for his courage (?) in conveying 
this additional and unexpected passenger home. I liberated it, and watched 
its slow and measured ascent into the branches of a nearly leafless tree. Here 
it remained all day, an object of interest to every one in the Hotel. It had dis- 
appeared next morning. The male claspers of one I killed were cylindrical and 
not bifurcated. 
Draco dussumiert.—Dussumier’s Flying Lizard. 
I only saw one of these interesting creatures actually in flight. This was at 
- about 3,000feet elevation. After a volplane, the commencement of which I did 
not witness, it alighted audibly on the trunk of a tree about ten feet from the 
ground. I had aside view of the flight, and noticed that there was no actual 
ascent at its termination, but a slight apparent ascent owing to the lizard con- 
verting a horizontal posture into a vertical one, as it came to rest. 
Charasia dorsalis. 
This lizard is extremely common all over and above Coonoor. It is dark 
brown dorsally, and harmonises with the rocks which form its home. It is very 
active and wary and disappears into any convenient cranny when approached. 
The body is remarkably depressed and this enables it to secrete itself in extremely 
narrow fissures. The male when excited assumes a black hue, and exhibits a 
bright pink moustache stripe, which makes it a very striking object. It is very 
difficult to capture. One that I shot lost its beautiful colouration as if by magic, 
and I could hardly believe it to be the same creature whose beauty had arrested 
my attention a few seconds before. 
The brilliancy of colour appears to be a2 demonstration of excitement, and, as 
in many other lizards, is only exhibited by the male. Some naturalists would 
have us believe that, as in the case of brillant plumage in birds, it has been 
evolved by natural selection, the female selecting the male as her mate who has the 
most brilliant display at his command. This beautiful theory is on a par with 
a great many other theories elaborated with great ingenuity by modern natura- 
lists. It is pure nonsense in the case of lizards, and ifso in lizards, why not in 
birds ? The fact is that with lizards the females make no choice. I have wit- 
nessed on many occasions the act of mating among many lizards especially those 
of the genus Calotes, many of which display very brilliant colours. The male 
with flaming head (in the case of C. versicolor) on sighting a female rushes upon 
her. She scuttles away as fast as she knows how, but is overtaken, overpowered 
and ravished in the most flagrantly brutal fashion, In such circumstances bow 
