ZOOLOGY. 



Genus— CHXMMLEO. Species— CHAMiELEO 

 PALLIDA. 



Generic Character — Body elongated, four footed, ending 

 in a tail, head flattened, angulated, feet divided 

 into two sections, the outer section having three toes, 

 the inner one two, armed with short nails and 

 prehensile. 



AMONGST the various and singular shapes of Nature, 

 which have attracted the curiosity or the wonder of 

 travellers, none are more worthy of attention, or more apt 

 to excite a strong interest in our minds, than the creature 

 which we are about to describe. Its melancholy and 

 wasted appearance indicated by its features, and the lean 

 character of its limbs and body, would lead us naturally 

 to consider it as one of the most miserable of created beings, 

 which however is far fron being the case, Nature having 

 provided, as in all other instances, for its wants and 

 gratifications. This remarkable family of animals descri- 

 bed under the Name of Chamaeleon, has been placed by 

 Linnaaus and other Naturalists with the Lizard tribe, 

 although certainly nothing can be essentially more different 

 in its form, particularly in the feet and head. The feet 

 of the Chamaeleon have a considerable resemblance to 

 those of a Parrott, and are formed to clasp the boughs 

 of the trees, in which it chiefly resides, whereas the 

 Lizard's foot approaches in a very great degree to the 

 human hand, and the eyes are not capable of being 

 elongated from the head, like those of the Chamaeleon. Four 

 or five different species have already been discovered in 

 Africa, amongst which are the cinerea, nigra, pumila., 

 rostrata, and the present one, the pallida from Egypt. 



o 



