258 COMMON CHAMELEON. 



marked with brown spots, which inclined towards 

 green. We afterwards wrapped it up in a linen 

 cloth, where having been two or three minutes, 

 we took it out whitish ; but not so white as that 

 of which Aldrovandus speaks, which was not to be 

 distinguished from the linen on which it was laid. 

 Ours, which had only changed its ordinary grey 

 into a very pale one, after having kept this colour 

 some time, lost it insensibly. This experiment 

 made us question the truth of the Chameleon's 

 taking all colours but white ; as Theophrastus and 

 Plutarch repor-t ; for ours seemed to have such a 

 disposition to retain this colour, that it grew pale 

 every night ; and when dead, it had more white 

 than any other colour : nor did we find that it 

 changed colour all over the body, as Aristotle re- 

 ports; for when it takes other colours than grey, 

 and disguises itself, to appear in masquerade, as 

 ^lian pleasantly says, it covers only certain parts 

 of the body with them. Lastly, to conclude the 

 experiments relative to the colours which the Cha- 

 meleon can take, it was laid on substances of various 

 colours, and wrapped up therein ; but it took not 

 them as it had done the white ; and it took that 

 only the first time the experiment was made, 

 though it was repeated several times on different 

 days." 



In making these experiments we observed that 

 there were a great many places of its skin which 

 grew brown, but very little at a time : to be cer- 

 tain of which we marked with small specks of ink 

 those granules which to us appeared whitest in its 



