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LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 



sandy heaths (Lacerta agilis), which is beautifully marked 

 along the sides with eve-like spots, and sometimes occurs 

 of a rich variegated green hue. The other is the smaller, 

 but more common, Viviparous Lizard (Zootoca vivipard), 

 whose interesting peculiarity is expressed in its name, that 

 of producing a living progeny, most Reptiles laying eggs. 

 The difference between these two conditions is, however, 

 less important than it at first appears; for there is every 

 reason to believe, that in this case, as well as in that of the 

 Viper (Pelias berus), which is also viviparous, the egg- 

 covering, which is merely a parchment-like membrane, 

 and very thin, is ruptured in the act of parturition. 



The most remarkable genus in this Order, and, indeed, 

 in many respects, the most extraordinary and anomalous 

 of all Vertebrate animals, are the Chameleons, of fabulous 

 and poetic celebrity. They are Lizards inhabiting trees 

 in the warmer countries of the Old World, with a great 

 development of head, and a shagreened skin. As the 

 Monkeys of South America are fitted for their arboreal 

 habits by grasping hands and a prehensile tail, so is the 

 Chameleon, by a curious modification of the common 

 Lizard organisation. The toes are five, as in the majority 

 of Saurians, but these are arranged in two sets, three in 

 one set and two in the other, each set being enveloped in 

 the common skin as far as the claws. These two parcels 

 of toes are opposed to each other, and thus each foot forms 

 a true grasping hand, and is used in the manner which 

 this structure indicates ; the Chameleon moving with slow 

 and deliberate steps, always grasping with a firm hold the 

 branch on which it is creeping, before the other feet are 

 relaxed for a fresh step. The tail is round and prehensile 



