CARNIVOROUS AND INSECTIVOROUS REPTILES 75 



following is quoted: — ". . . Our chameleon is a beast of prey. 

 Insects are its food. See, a fly has settled on that bough, within 

 six inches of our largest lion. But what chance has the slow and 

 sedate chameleon, slowest and sleepiest of lizard-folk, what chance 

 has he , of catching an active and wary fly? His cone-shaped 

 swivel eyes are looking about aimlessly, each seeming bent on 

 some business of its own. Now one glances lazily up, while the 

 other peers furtively down. Now one is staring attentively back- 

 wards at its owner's tail, while the other is ranging round the 

 neighbourhood of that wide-awake little fly, who is rubbing her 

 front legs together, or drawing her hind-legs over her wings, in 

 utter carelessness of the presence of so inanimate an enemy. But 

 make not too sure. One eye has ceased its aimless wandering, 

 and becomes earnestly interested in that fly. The chameleon 

 takes one solemn step forward. You are all right for the pre- 

 sent, Mrs. Fly; but let me advise you to be careful and circum- 

 spect. That one eye is fixed upon you with an unchanging, 

 steady gaze, and the other seems somehow to have lost its interest 

 in its owner's tail, and is beginning to find a new interest in your 

 immediate neighbourhood. If once that other eye becomes fixed 

 upon you, take my word for it, you're a doomed fly. Ah! I 

 thought so. The other eye has come to rest, and holds you in 

 its steady gaze. The chameleon leans forward a little, his mouth 

 slowly opens, twitches once or twice, and quick as thought, with 

 unerring aim, a long worm-like tongue is darted forth and returns 

 to the mouth like a piece of stretched india-rubber. Where is poor 

 Mrs. Fly? She seems to have disappeared. And Mr. Chameleon 

 is leisurely munching at something which seems to give him some 

 sort of sedate satisfaction." Here again we have the device of a 

 long sticky tongue as an insect-trap that was noted in some ant- 

 eating mammals and in woodpeckers. In this case the organ in 

 question has a curious swollen end. 



We have seen that Lizards of various kinds hunt their prey on 

 the ground, among trees, and also in the water; but this does not 

 exhaust the possibilities of the group, for there are a number 

 of burrowing species. Prominent among these are the Skinks, 

 stumpy-looking creatures, in which the spindle-shaped body with 

 smooth surface is well suited to the habit, to which the short 

 powerful limbs and transparent lower eyelid, acting as a protective 

 window, are further adaptations. Types of the group are the 



