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 ophiomachus 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 



t 3 



