Chameleons are most deliberate in their movements, sometimes provokingly slow. Each arm and foot leaves the firmly grasped branch with great hesitation, and makes with equal deliberation for some other foothold. It does not matter if the thigh appears almost twisted out of its joint. The creature will remain in the most uncomfortable position, forgetting, one might think, to put one or more of its limbs down, but keeping them instead in the air.
It is most interesting to watch them stalking their prey. Suppose we have introduced some butterflies into their roomy cage, which is furnished with living plants and with plenty of twigs. The Chameleons, hitherto quite motionless, perhaps basking with flattened-out bodies so as to catch as many of the sun's rays as possible, become at once lively. One of them makes for a butterfly which has settled in the farther upper corner of the cage. With unusually fast motions the Chameleon stilts along and across the branches and all seems to go well, until he discovers that the end of the branch is still 8 inches from the prey, and he knows perfectly well that 7 inches are the utmost limit to a shot with his tongue. He pauses to think, perhaps with two limbs in the air, but stability is secured by a judicious turn of the tail. After he has solved the puzzle, he retraces his steps to the base of the branch, climbs up the main stem, creeps along the next branch above, and when arrived at the 7 inch distance, he shoots the butterfly with unerring aim. The capacity of the mouth and throat is astonishing. A full-grown Chameleon will catch, chew, and swallow the largest moth, for instance a Sphinx ligustri. When large, the prey is chewed, but the wings and legs are swallowed with the rest. Occasionally these parts are bitten off, especially the prickly long legs of large locusts.
In water Chameleons are quite helpless. Sometimes they inflate themselves, but they always topple over on to the side, and the movements of their limbs are absolutely without any definite purpose.
When the eggs are ripe, and this happens with the Common Chameleon about the end of October, the female refuses to take food, and becomes restless. One of my specimens searched about probing the ground for about a week before she dug a hole in some more solid soil. This took two days. In the evening I found her sitting in the hole to the middle of her body. On the following morning she was still there, but busy filling the hole with soil and covering it with dry leaves. A few eggs were lying about outside, two of which at least I saw her taking up by the hand and putting them on the nest, which was found to contain some thirty soft-shelled eggs closely packed upon each other. During the whole process she was very snappy, and hissed much when approached. After that she crept into the twigs as usual, but refused to eat, vomited at once the artificially introduced food, became restless on the sixth day, crawling about at the bottom of the cage, and died on the following day. This is the usual fate, almost without exception, of females after they have deposited their eggs in captivity. The great number of eggs and their deposition naturally exhausts them, and they probably want to hibernate at once. The eggs, which are yellowish, long-oval, about half an inch long and covered with a parchment-like shell, are very difficult to rear, chiefly on account of the difficulty of regulating the moisture. They shrink up when too dry, and they are very liable to become mouldy. According to Fischer[[173]] the eggs can be hatched in a large flower-pot with a layer of horse-droppings at the bottom, then a layer of 6 inches of slightly moist soil, then the eggs, then another 6 inches of loose soil, with a glass plate covering the top, securing at the same time ventilation. In this way he succeeded in hatching several sets of eggs after 125 and 133 days respectively.
Ch. calcaratus, the Indian Chameleon, is found in the southern half of the Peninsula and in Ceylon, but it is far from common. It much resembles Ch. vulgaris, but the male is distinguished by a tarsal process or "spur," covered with skin, on the inner side of the foot.
Ch. pumilus, the Dwarf Chameleon of South Africa, reaches a total length of 5 to 6 inches. It has a well-marked, serrated gular crest, which extends from the chin to the end of the neck. The chest and belly are without a toothed line, but a strongly serrated series extends from the occiput over the back and tail (see the right upper corner of Fig. 152 on p. [575]). A row of enlarged tubercles or scales extends along the sides of the body. The general colour is green, with a large and long patch of brick-red on the sides; small dots and spots of intense red are scattered over various parts of the body. The changes of colour are rather limited. At night the Dwarf Chameleon does not turn pale, but generally keeps its colour. When they are very well the green is quite saturated, and the large red patch on the side is interrupted by several blue spots. When they are angry or unhappy the red turns into dirty brown, and the green becomes quite dull. Sometimes the whole animal turns dull black.
This pretty little species is relatively hardy, being, as a native of South Africa, accustomed to cold nights. It does well in an ordinary temperate greenhouse, where it will live for several years, provided it has an ample supply of flies and meal-worms. It is viviparous, the young being probably born in the month of March or April.
Ch. bifidus, of Madagascar, shows an extraordinary difference between the sexes. The male reaches the great length of 16 inches, and develops two long rostral processes, which extend forwards beyond the snout; these processes are formed of dense connective tissue, which ossifies in the adult, and they are covered with scaly skin.
Ch. parsoni, likewise of Madagascar, is the giant amongst Chameleons, reaching a total length of 2 feet. The male has two large rostral processes which diverge upwards and outwards.
Brookesia, with several species in Madagascar, may be mentioned on account of its stunted appearance. The tail is much shorter than the body and scarcely prehensile; the scales on the soles are spinous. Total length only about 3 inches.