Like many other lizards, the Anolis possesses the faculty of changing colour when under the influence of excitement, but of all animals, whether terrestrial or marine, none is more famous or remarkable in this respect than the _Chameleon_. It frequently happens that man, not satisfied with the wonders which Nature everywhere exposes to his view, adds to their marvels others of his own invention, and thus many a fable has been told about the Chameleon. It has been said, for instance, that it could emulate all the colours of the rainbow, but the more accurate observations of Hasselquist and other naturalists have shown that the whole change, which takes place most frequently when the Chameleon is exposed to full sunshine or under the influence of emotion, consists in its ordinary bluish-ash colour, turning to a green or yellowish hue with irregular spots of a dull red. Like many other reptiles, the Chameleon has the power of inflating its lungs and retaining the air for a long time so as one moment to appear as fat and well-fed as an alderman, and the next as lean and bony as a hungry disciple of the Muses. These alternating expansions and collapses seem to have a great influence on the change of colour, which, however, according to Milne-Edwards, is principally owing to the skin of the animal consisting of two differently coloured layers, placed one above the other, and changing their relative position under the influence of excitement. [Illustration: CHAMELEON.] In our cold and northern regions the captive Chameleon cuts but a sorry figure: but in his own and sunny regions, which extend from southern Spain and Sicily to the Cape, and eastwards from Arabia and Hindostan to Australia, it is said to be by no means deficient in beauty, in spite of its strangely-formed carinated head, its enormously projecting eyes, and its granulated skin. Its manner of hunting for the little winged insects, that form its principal food, is very peculiar. Although the movements of its head are very limited, on account of the shortness of its neck, this deficiency is amply supplied by the wide range of its vision, each eye being able to move about in all directions independently of the other. Thus, while one of them attentively gazes upon the heavens, the other minutely examines the ground, or while one of them rolls in its orbit, the other remains fixed; nay, their mobility is so great, that without even moving its stiff head, this wonderful lizard, like Janus, the double-faced god of ancient Rome, can see at the same time all that goes on before and behind it. When an insect comes flying along, the Chameleon, perched on a branch, and half concealed between the foliage, follows it in all its movements by means of his powerful telescopes, until the proper moment for action appears. Then, quick as thought, he darts forth, even to a distance of five or six inches, his long fleshy glutinous tongue, which is moreover furnished with a dilated and somewhat tubular tip,