REPTILES. 



first conjecture, which will occur to every one, is that they are 

 used by the males for fighting together; and as these animals are 

 very quarrelsome,™ this is probably a correct view. Mr. T. W. 

 Wood also informs me that he once watched two individuals of 

 C. pumilus, fighting violently on the branch of a tree; they flung 

 their heads about and 

 tried to bite each other; 

 they then rested for a ' 

 time, and afterwards 

 continued their battle. 

 With many lizards, 

 the sexes differ slightly 

 in color, the tints and 

 stripes of the males be- 

 ing brighter and more 

 distinctly defined, than 

 in the females. This, for 

 instance, is the case 

 with the above Cophotis 

 and with the Acantho- 

 dactylus capensis of S. 

 Africa. In a Cordylus of 

 the latter country, the 

 male is either much red- 

 der or greener than the 

 female. In the Indian 



Calotes nigrilabris there is a still greater difference; the lips also 

 of the male are black, whilst those of the female are green. In our 

 common little viviparous lizard (Zootoca vivipara) "the under 

 "side of the body and base of the tail in the male are bright 

 ''orange, spotted with black; in the female these parts are pale- 

 "grayish-green without spots.'"" We have seen that the males 

 alone of Sitana possess a throat-pouch; and this is splendidly 

 tinted with blue, black, and red. In the Proctotretus tenuis of 

 Chile the male alone is marked with spots of blue, green, and cop- 

 pery-red.'^ In many cases the males retain the same colors 

 throughout the year, but in others they become much brighter dur- 

 ing the breeding-season; I may give as an additional instance the 

 Calotes maria, which at this season has a bright red head, the rest 

 of the body being green." 



'""^iili^ 



Fig 36. Chamaeleon Owenii. Upper 

 figure, male; lower figure, female. 



«» Dr. Bucholz, 'Monatsbericht K. Preuss. Akad.' Jan. 1874, p. 78. 



'» Bell, 'History of British Reptiles,' 2nd edit. 1849, p. 40. 



n For Proctotretus, see 'Zoology of the Voyage of the "Beagle:" Rep- 

 tiles,' by Mr. Bell, p. 8. For the Lizards of S. Africa, see 'Zoology of 

 S. Africa: Reptiles,' by Sir Andrew Smith, pi. 25 and 39. For the In- 

 dian Calotes, see 'Reptiles of British India,' by Dr. Gunther, p. 143. 



'- Gunther in 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1870, p. 778, with a colored figure. 

 24 



