CHAMELEONS. 
172 
(clavicles); while there are likewise certain distinctive features in connection with 
the skull, into the consideration of which it will he unnecessary to enter in this 
work. Another important feature by which these reptiles differ from lizards is 
the structure of the feet, in which the toes are divided into two opposing branches, 
thus forming grasping organs of great power. In the fore-foot the inner branch 
of the foot includes three, and the outer two toes, in the hind-foot precisely the 
reverse arrangement obtains; and from this peculiar hand-like structure of the 
foot,—which, by the way, recalls the feet of the parrots and many Picarian birds, 
—the chameleons have been spoken of as four-handed lizards. Yet another 
peculiarity in the structure of these reptiles is presented by the eye, which is in 
the form of a very large and prominent globe covered by a thick granular lid, in 
the centre of which is a minute perforation for the pupil. The deliberate way in 
which a chamaeleon rolls round one of these extraordinary eyes until it has focused 
it on the fly about to be caught by the tongue is familiar to most of our readers. 
The foregoing are the essential features by which the chamseleons are dis¬ 
tinguished from the lizards proper; those remaining for mention not being such as 
would be regarded by zoologists as of subordinal importance. Among these may be 
noticed the triangular helmet-like form generally assumed by the hinder part of 
the head, which often has three longitudinal ridges, connected together posteriorly 
by a cross-ridge, all of which are ornamented with tubercles. The teeth, which are 
small, triangular, and compressed, are placed on the summits of the jaws in the 
acrodont fashion, none being present on the palate. The body is much compressed, 
and the neck short; the slender limbs are so much elongated as to raise the body 
high above the ground in a manner different from ordinary lizards; the tail is 
long and prehensile, thus acting as a fifth hand; and in place of scales, the head 
and body are covered with tubercles or shagreen-like granules. The larger species 
attain a length of some 15 inches; but the dwarf chamaeleon of Madagascar 
(Brookesia nanus) is less than 2k inches in length. 
The chamseleons include close on fifty species, all of which are comprised in 
the single family Chamceleontidce, and by far the greater majority in the typical 
genus Clianiceleon. Indeed, of the two aberrant genera, Brookesia is represented 
by three species from Madagascar, while Rhampholeon comprises two tropical 
African kinds. The true home of the group is Africa and Madagascar, together 
with the neighbouring islands, each of these areas comprising nearly half of the 
known species. The common chamaeleon ( C. vulgaris) is, however, found on the 
African and Asiatic coasts of the Mediterranean, entering Europe in Andalusia; 
while a second species inhabits the Isle of Socotra, a third Southern Arabia, and a 
fourth India and Ceylon. 
Evidently extremely specialised creatures, chamaeleons stand 
HdiDltS. 
altogether apart from the lizards, not only as regards their anatomical 
structure, but likewise in their power of moving one eye independently of the other, 
in the enormous extensibility and protrusive power of their tongues, and in their 
slow and deliberate movements. According, however, to those who have had the 
opportunity of observing them in their native haunts, chamseleons do not move 
quite so slowly as in confinement, where they take half a minute in determining 
which limb to move, or on which bough to replace it. Passing the whole of their 
