Chap. IX.] 
CALOTES VERSICOLOR, ETC. 
277 
in a less degree, the power, like the chameleon, of 
exchanging their ordinary colours for others less con- 
spicuous. One of the most remarkable features in the 
physiognomy of those lizards is the prominence of their 
cheeks. This results from the great development of 
the muscles of the jaws ; the strength of which is such 
that they can crush the hardest integuments of the 
beetles on which they feed. The calotes will permit 
its teeth to be broken, rather than quit its hold of a stick 
into which it may have struck them. It is not provided, 
like so many other tropical lizards, with a gular sac or 
throat-pouch, capable of inflation when in a state of 
high excitement. The tail, too, is rounded, not com- 
pressed, thus clearly indicating that its habits are those 
of a land-animal. 
The Calotes versicolor, and another, the Calotes ophio- 
machus, of which a figure is attached, possess in a 
remarkable degree the faculty, above alluded to, of 
changing their hue. The head and neck, when the 
animal is irritated or hastily swallowing its food, be- 
come of a brilliant red (whence the latter species has 
acquired the name of the " blood-sucker "), whilst the 
usual tint of the rest of the body is converted into pale 
yellow. 1 The sitana' 1 , and a number of others, exhibit 
similar phenomena. 
The lyre-headed lizard 3 , which is not uncommon in the 
woods about Kandy, is more bulky than any of the 
species of Calotes, and not nearly so active in its move- 
1 The characteristics by which specimens are uniform, others 
the Calotes opMomachus may be banded transversely with white, 
readily recognised, are a small crest and others again have a black 
formed by long spines running band on each side of the neck, 
on each side of the neck to above 2 Sitana Ponticereana, Cuv. 
the ear, coupled with a green 3 Lyriocephalus scutatus, Linn. 
ground-colour of the scales. Many 
x 3 
