CHAMELEONS, CHAMELEON-TRIBE, CIIAM/ELEONIDX, the name for a well-defined family of Saurians (Lizard-like Reptiles), whose differential and essential characters may be summed up as existing in the form of their feet, tiro toes of which are joined or bound up together in two packet, or bundles opposed to each other—in their allagreen-like akin—in their prehensile tail—and in their extensile and retractile vermiform tongue.
There is not much difference between the oesophagus and stomach, which latter is small and bent back upon itself. There is no true pylorus, although there exists, at the point where it should be, a sort of contraction in the membranes, which are there thickened.
Organs of Sense.—Toueh.—On the under surface of the tail and toes are granulated papilla; probably for the purpose of conveying to the sensorium the nature of the body grasped. The tongue must have a considerable share of the sense of touch ; whether it has any high perception of that of taste may be doubted. Smell—Meat pro. bably not acute ; the external orifices of the nostrils are more lateral, and consequently wider apart than in most of the other Saurians. Ilearing.—There is no 'visible external car, but an internal cavity not much developed in the bones of the sides of the skull, communicating with the throat, and covered externally by the common integuments brownish-gray, inclining to minima. The rest of the skin which was not illuminated by the sun changed its gray into several brisk and shining colour*, forming spot* about half n finger's breadth, reaching from the crest of the spine to the middle of the back ; others appeared on the ribs, fore legs, and tail All these spots were of an Isabella colour, through the mixture of a pale yellow with which the granules Sights—The eyes of the Chameleon are remarkable objects ; large, projecting, and almost entirely covered with the shagreen-like akin, with the exception of a small aperture opposite to the pupil: their motions are completely independent of each other. It adds to the strange and grotesque appearance of this creature, to see it roll one of its eye-globes backwards, while the other is directed forwards, as if making two distinct surveys at one time. Its sight must be acute, from the unerring certainty with which it marks and strikes its prey.
Reproduction.--By means of eggs, which are numerous at each deposit, oval, and enveloped in a white, tough, parchment-like akin.
Habits, tec.—The Chameleons spend their lives in trees, clinging to the branches by means of their feet and tail. Therd they lie in wait for the insects which may come within their reach; and it is highly probable that, in such situations, their faculty of changing their colour becomes highly important in aiding them to conceal themselves. They move about with great regularity and a kind of affected gravity. The powers of abstinence possessed by this singular race are very great, and hence most probably arose the old fable of their living on air, which was for a long time conaidered.to be " the chameleon's dish." We kept one for upwards of six weeks, and during all that time it never, as far as we could observe, took any sustenance, though meal-worms and other insects were procured for it.. Notwith standing this fast, it did not appear to fall away much. It would fix itself by the feet and tail to the bars of the fender, and there remain motionless, apparently enjoying the warmth of the fire for hours together. Its motions were excessively alow. It was a female, and died after laying a great number of eggs. Hasselquist describes one that ho kept for near a month, as climbing up and down the bars of its cage in a very lively rnanuer. Numbers have been exhibited from time to time in the Zoological Gardens, Regent's Park, but they do not Hee long. The males are distinguished by the thickness of their tails.
That the Chameleon was known to the ancients there is no doubt. It was the Xaoaaticov of the Greeks and the Chamaleo of the Latins. Aristotle's history of the animal proves the acute observation of that great zoologist, for he notices the peculiarities of the animal, the absence of a sternum, the disposition of the ribs, the mechanism of the tail, the motion of the eyes, the toes bound up in opposeable bundles, dc., though he is not entirely correct in sonic points. (' Dist. Anim.,' book 2, ch. xi) Pliny (' Hist. Nat.,' lib. viii., c. 33) mentions it, but his account is for the most part a compilation from Aristotle.