98 A Partial Biography of the Green Lizard. [February, . 
not change. Nor do they always appear conscious of a disturb- 
ance when a change of color occurs, since I have turned the cage 
towards artificial light, and found the lizard sleeping and of a green 
color. In less than two minutes it was dark-brown, and still ap- 
* parently sleeping. Another time a light held near the cage did 
not cause one to open its eyes, but in less than thirty seconds a 
brownish tint had taken the place of the green. 
My observations on color-changes have been contradictory and 
unsatisfactory. The lizards enjoy the sun-light-and remain bask- 
ing for hours motionless, except for their rolling eyes, which no- 
tice everything. They go to sleep as soon as it becomes dark, 
and are not easily disturbed. They also go to bed when a storm 
brings darkness, and wake again when the sun appears, although 
not exposed to its direct rays. They are sensitive to degrees of 
light, but how direct sun-light and darkness can affect their skins 
and produce the same color-change is a puzzle. 
They have several ways of sleeping. Sometimes they lie close 
up under a bit of loose bark (this is generally on cool nights, or 
when left out of doors later than usual); at others, they curl ina 
sigmoid shape in a corner behind a small jar; and at others 
they stretch out straight and stiff along a limb or among the 
twigs. And their sleeping habits are the most interesting of any 
I have noticed. When they are in a crevice, or hole, they take 
any shape that is convenient, but when on sticks and twigs, they ar- 
_tange themselves so as to imitate the general form of the branches. 
In the cage there are some irregular twigs and a small horizon- 
tal stick. When on the horizontal piece the lizard stretches itself 
out straight, with its forelegs pressed closely to the body, and the 
hind legs and tail so straight along the branch that the bend of the 
knee shows as a dimple. When sleeping among the twigs it is — 
arranged, head downwards, on the largest, with its forelegs close 
to the body, but the hind legs spread out at different angles. 
Often one leg will be straight and the other bent, at other times 
both have the same bend, but always resembling the branching 4 
of twigs. They so closely imitate this when they are dark-brown, _ 
that often, at first, before I learned their tricks, I would search for 
them all over their cage, fearing they had escaped. y a 
The lizards are fond of flies, often snapping up eight or mine, — 
one after the other, as quickly as they can swallow them. I saw 
one once with two flies in its mouth preparing to catch another. : 
