CHANGES OF CHAMALEON 
their tails like many other lizards, and like crocodiles. 
At the Zoo, like most other lizards they slumber much, 
and do not suggest any great activity either of mind or 
body. But they are big and impressive in appearance. 
THE CHAMELEON 
The “ reptilian vicar of Bray,” as the late Mr. Grant 
Allen termed this lizard, has got an unjust reputation 
for capacity of colour change, mainly due to a well-known 
ballad, where these changes lead to misunderstanding 
on the part of some who have not been present to witness 
the whole series. As a matter of fact the chameleon 
does change its colour, and incidentally and at the same 
time, unlike the leopard, its spots. But these changes are 
not precisely what they are in popular imagination, 
which will accordingly be disappointed when the Cha- 
meleons at the Zoo can be got to“ perform.”’ Popular 
imagination in this, as in other matters, has raced well 
ahead of the facts, and has assigned to the chameleon 
the entire chromatic scale. Its actual performance falls 
far short of this, and is limited to greens, yellows, browns, 
greys, and almost blacks. Some colours are beyond 
their powers. Nor can they entirely blanch or blacken. 
The faculty of colour change, though characteristic 
enough of these singular lizards, is by no means confined 
to them ; it is a common attribute of many lizards, some 
of which even excel the chameleon in their variety and 
rapidity of change. The chameleon, however, is a 
fairly quick change artist. Apparently rage is the most 
potent factor in inducing alterations, and a chameleon, 
when pinched gently, becomes spotty with wrath. Sun- 
shine blackens them, and death leaves them black or 
pale straw colour. In fact, anger, heat, cold, and death, 
would seem to be the main factors in turning their coats. 
That chameleons are lizards is probably known to most, 
but in almost every feature they differ from the more 
Z.G. 241 R 
