A STRANGE RESEMBLANCE. 
By KR. LyDEKKER. 
Mice people, I suppose, know what a chameleon is; but even the readers of 
Animan Lire may not perhaps be aware that these lizards have a somewhat 
peculiar geographical distribution. As a matter of fact, their range includes the extreme 
southern portion of Spain, the whole of Africa and Madagascar, together with the 
southern part of Asia Minor, the western and southern borders of the Arabian peninsula, 
and southern India and Ceylon. Such a distribution, it may be remarked in passing, 
is very different from that of any group of mammals; but that does not concern us 
on the present occasion. What I want to bring to the notice of my readers is that 
chameleons are quite unknown in the countries to the east of the Bay of Bengal. 
Not very much in this, it may be said; and perhaps not. The curious circumstance 
is that Java, which forms part of the eastern boundary of the aforesaid bay, is the 
home of a certain lizard—technically known as Ganyocephalus chameleontinwus—which, 
although having no sort of relationship to the chameeleons, yet presents such a strong 
superficial resemblance to them that probably nine out of ten non-zoological persons, 
seeing a specimen for the first time, would say that it belonged to that group. 
How curiously close is the resemblance between the two creatures will be 
a apparent by a glance at 
the two figures reproduced 
herewith—the first showing 
the Indian chameleon, 
and the second the 
chameleon-lizard, as it 
may be popularly called. 
Both show the same hel- 
met-like form of the head, 
the laterally -compressed 
body, with a sharply-keeled 
back, and the long taper- 
ing tail. The general colour is 
likewise very similar. It is 
true that the mdge on the 
back of the chameleon-lizard carries 
much more distinct spines than is 
the case with that of the true chame- 
leon, but this might well be nothing 
more than a specific difference. 
A closer examination will of course 
show the essential difference in the 
structure of the two creatures. The skin of the chame- 
leon-lizard is, for mstance, covered with scales, while that 
of the chameleons is dotted over with minute granules. 
Then, again, the lizard lacks the peculiar “telescopic ” 
THD INDIAN CHAMAILEON, eyes, the remarkable divided feet, and the prehensile tail 
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