CHAMÆLEONS ASLEEP.
The tail of the sleeping chamæleon is frequently coiled spirally like the proboscis of a butterfly.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
A CHAMÆLEON IN A RAGE.
Puffing and hissing at an approaching intruder.
The Chamæleons differ in so many important structural points from the ordinary lizards that they are usually regarded now by scientists as a distinct reptilian sub-order. The essential characters, externally recognisable, that serve to distinguish the chamæleons are:—Firstly, the extraordinary development of their worm-like extensile tongue, the tip of it club-shaped and highly viscous, and the shaft cylindrical and as elastic in texture as india-rubber. Adapted for the special object of catching flies, this organ can be projected from the mouth to a distance of 6 or 8 inches or more with lightning-like rapidity, and rarely misses its quarry. Comparing small things with great, the chamæleon's tongue and its action might be likened to a schoolboy's popgun, having its pellet secured to the barrel by a long elastic ligament. Presuming further that the pellet is covered with a viscid secretion such as bird-lime, and that the object shot at is hit and brought back to the shooter's pocket by virtue of the ligament's intrinsic elasticity, we have an almost veritable replica of the chamæleon's fly-catching apparatus. The second remarkable structural peculiarity of the chamæleon is the independent relationship of the two eyes. The eyes themselves are unlike those of any other lizards; they are large, prominent, skin-covered cones, perforated only at their extreme apex for the minute pupil-opening: while one eye may be fixed on an object in front of it, the other may be rolling around in search of a second quarry. This independent capacity of vision, while peculiar among reptiles to the chamæleon, is common to many fishes, such as blennies and flat-fishes. A third anomaly in the chamæleon's structure is the character of the feet; these resemble those of a parrot, the toes being bound together in two opposable bundles. In the fore foot the inner bundle contains three and the outer one two toes only, while in the hind foot the order of their amalgamation is precisely reversed. In either case these feet subserve, as in parrots and other perching-birds, as most effective organs for maintaining a close grip upon the tree-branches among which they habitually live. The tail of the chamæleon is, finally, highly prehensile, and, as with the New World monkeys, constitutes a veritable fifth hand, wherewith to ensure it against falling off its perch.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
COMMON CHAMELEON OF SOUTH EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA.