234 CLASS KEPTILIA. 



attack them. Accordingly an immense annual destruction 

 of them takes place, and but for their amazing fecundity, 

 it is probable that the species would shortly become extinct. 



The cameleons live on insects, and principally upon flies. 

 They seize them with vivacity by means of their long and 

 gluey tongues, and bruise them between their jaws. Like 

 other reptiles they can remain for months without eating, 

 which has given rise to the opinion that they live on air. 

 But to this power of fasting there are limits, and after a 

 time they will succumb under the want of food. Golberry, 

 who when in Senegal, instituted the most rigorous experiments 

 to ascertain how long the cameleons could live without 

 eating, has established four months as the maximum. They 

 lay about a dozen eggs, which the female deposits in the 

 sand, where the young are excluded by the simple operation 

 of the solar heat. 



The exact duration of the life of the cameleon is unknown 

 — ^but we may presume, that but few individuals arrive at 

 the term fixed by nature to their existence, or in other words 

 die a natural death, since, as we have just said, they can- 

 not, but by the greatest chance, escape the numerous 

 enemies that wage perpetual war against them ; so that to 

 use the words of a French writer, " un cameleon aper^u est 

 un cameleon perdu." In countries where cold sometimes 

 prevails a little, such as Lower Egypt, and the coasts of 

 Barbary, they conceal themselves in winter in holes under 

 heaps of stones, where they remain in a state of perfect 

 immobility, but without being asleep, or in a lethargy, like 

 most other reptiles. 



The Indians and Africans consider the cameleons as use- 

 ful animals, and love to see them around their houses des- 

 troying those insects by which they are tormented. They 

 never do them any injury, and are fond of caressing them. 

 The cameleon on its part, is extremely gentle. One may 



