308 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
notice of the fact, and is bound to put additional leaves to the 
heap. Whoever omits to do so will certainly die in the course 
of the follov^ing seven years. The native name is Ok'-u-M. 
With respect to the changes of colour that I have wit- 
nessed, my attention was first attracted to the creature 
while going along the road. Seeing what seemed to me to 
be a leaf (because it was of the same colour as the leaves 
lying all around it), moving slowly along on its edge, my 
attention was arrested, and I stooped down to observe more 
closely what I thought was a strange freak for a leaf, and 
what was the motive power. I soon saw it was altogether a 
living creature, and in an instant more that it was a chame- 
leon. I had never seen one at large before, and was de- 
lighted, as you may imagine, with such an introduction to it. 
By this time, finding that it was being very closely noticed, 
it changed its hues gradually but steadily from one tint to 
another, keeping at the same time its little round eye firmly 
fixed on me. It readily fastened itself on my walking-stick, 
and I took it home. Happening to have a small wooden 
cage at hand, I put it in, and put small bits of meat there, 
hoping to attract flies, on which it would be enabled to sup- 
port itself, but no flies came. In three weeks the beautiful 
round orbits had very sensibly shrunk, and became much 
too small for their sockets, and altogether the whole body of 
the poor little creature had become very pitiably emaciated. 
All our eff'orts to make it eat proved unavailing. There, 
like , ' it pined, with a green and yellow melancholy,' 
and so to put an end to its misery, I put it in spirits, and i 
brought it to you. I 
" Of its change of colour ; during the time it remained i 
in the cage I had constant opportunities of witnessing 
this. The colours into which it would put itself, and 
which were uniform over its body, were green, chocolate | 
brown (the colour of the leaf on which I first saw it), a dull 
dark approaching to black, and a pale ash or drab colour. But 
generally it assumed a mottled appearance, blending several 
colours — yellow, red, green, and black, &c., so far as I can 
recollect. Both sides were not always similarly coloured. 
I have seen it quite dark on one side, and pale drab on the 
other at the same moment, as well as other diversities." 
