THE CHAMELEONS 291 



Why this pretty little lizard should be called a blind-vioxm 

 it is not easy to say, for it is not blind, but has a pair of sharp 

 though very small eyes. As you watch it you will see that it 

 keeps darting its little black tongue in and out. Many people 

 think that this tongue, which is forked hke that of a serpent, has 

 a poisonous sting. But that is a mistake; the blind-worm could 

 not hurt us in any way. 



We never see a blind-worm in the winter, for then it falls into 

 a long deep sleep, in which it feels neither hunger nor thirst. As 

 soon as the warm spring evenings arrive, however, and the slugs 

 come out to feed, the blind-worm wakes up and comes out too. 



The blind-worm is really useful, and ought to be encouraged 

 rather than destroyed, as is too often the case. 



THE CHAMELEONS (Sub-order RhiptoglosSA) 



The Chameleons form a sub-order by themselves, being dis- 

 tinguished from the true lizards by several characteristic features. 

 But these do not destroy their relationship to the lizards, nor to 

 the snakes which follow. 



Nearly fifty species of chameleons are known, and they are 

 found chiefly in Africa, Madagascar, and the neighbouring islands. 

 We shall consider one as a type. 



This singular little lizard is one of the strangest animals in 

 all the world. Not on account of its size — for it is only a small 

 creature, never more than a few inches in length — but because of 

 the wonderful power which it possesses of changing the colour of 

 its body. 



Generally its colour is bright green, like that of the foliage 

 among which it lives. But often, even while one is watching, it 

 will turn to blue, or to dull brown, or to a dirty yellow! or a 

 number of dark spots may appear upon it; and by and by these 

 spots will run into one another, and become stripes. Then by 

 degrees the colour will change back into the original green. But 

 stranger than all this is the fact that no one has been able to find 

 out how this wonderful change of colour is produced. 



