4 The Florida Chameleon. [January, 
supposition of its specific creation in this way at the first, on the 
plan of destroying two of the four at the birth, and giving one of 
the remainder a diminished chance for existence, is an utterly be- 
wildering conception. 
I know not what quadrupeds or other animals: there may be 
upon Guadalupe Island, of which this bur may have taken advan- 
tage for dissemination. I presume there are, or have been, such 
animals upon the island. But even if there are none, the hypoth- 
esis of the development of this bur under natural selection will 
not thereby be negatived. For although we know of this plant 
only there, we are not bound to suppose that it originated on this 
small island. The island is now used as a breeding-place for An- 
gora goats. As they come to be distributed upon the adjacent 
main-land, we may expect that the little Harpagonella will take 
advantage of the offered means of transport, and compete with its 
relatives already established there. 
THE FLORIDA CHAMELEON. 
BY REV. 8. LOCKWOOD, PH. D. 
Wits the opening of summer, the teaching naturalist is some- 
times delighted at. finding on his lecture table a curious or 
attractive specimen from the local fauna or flora. Perhaps the 
_ object is the more interesting as being the contribution of some 
enthusiastic pupil. Sometimes it happens that the object has been, 
at some cost of trouble, obtained from a distance. In this way, 
early last June, a pleasant surprise was sprung upon the writer, 
who found on his table a box containing four small lizards from 
Florida. Poor little things, there were eight of them when they 
left the sunny South; for alas, four had perished from the rough- 
ness of “the middle passage.” They had been unskillfully 
packed, or rather not packed at all; and the shaking they had 
experienced had been too much for them. That day another 
died, leaving but three. To get them home [had a ride of thirty 
miles by rail. Having put my little box safely in a corner of the 
car, between the coal-bin and the stove, I took a forward seat, and 
from the effects of late work the night before soon fell into a 
doze of a few minutes. I was awaked by the noise of the passen- 
gers. Happening to look on the floor of the car, I beheld, to my 
dismay, the youngest of my lizards under the seat immediately 
before me. It had got out of the box, and had crept under the 
