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LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS. 
sandy heaths ( Lacerta mjilis), which is beautifully marked 
along tho sides with eye-like spots, and sometimes occurs 
of a rich variegated green hue. The other is the smaller, 
but more common, Viviparous Lizard ( Zootoca vivipara), 
whose interesting peculiarity is expressed in its name, that 
of producing- a living progeny, most Eeptiles 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 herus), 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, jmd, 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 
Chamoleon, 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 
