ZOOLOGY. 



Philosophers have been much-puzzled to account for the 

 different changes which take place in the shades of 

 colour, but it is most probably attributed anatomically 

 to the secretion, or the withdrawing, of some particular 

 fluid wMch exists underneath the pores of the skin, and 

 which the animal can regulate according to its own 

 pleasure. Such also in the human species is the nervous 

 sensation of blushing, occasioned by the extreme afflux 

 of blood to the extremities, or the pallid hue which 

 results from the sudden withdrawing of the circulating 

 fluids from extreme terror. It is not to be supposed that 

 the Black Chameleon can change its hue in so strong 

 a manner as the other species, and it is accordingly found 

 to alter only to a brown or dark purple. The Green or 

 Olive-Coloured Chamaeleon (the Chamasleon Cinerea of 

 various authors) seems to have the greatest powers of 

 change, and the pale species herewith described the least 

 of all. 



Of the object which the great Author of Nature had in 

 view in such a provision of changeable appearances, it is 

 perhaps very difficult to judge, but it is most generally and 

 reasonably supposed to be designed for the purposes of 

 assisting the concealment of the Animal from its external 

 enemies, being itself a passive creature, unprovided with 

 any weapons of offence or defence, and far more capable ? 

 by its situation, of escape than of resistance. 



