the superficial layer, or from its disappearance beneath this layer.
4. That these displacements of the deeper pigment do in reality occur; and it is a probable consequence that the Chameleon's colour changes during life, and may continue to change even after death.
5. That there exists a close analogy between the mechanism by the help of which the changes of colour appear to take place in these reptiles, and that which determines the successive appearance and disappearance of coloured spots in the mantles of several of the Cephalopods.[1]
Whether this learned zoologist has set the question completely at rest in these observations or not, we may be permitted to doubt; and to inquire with Mr. Martin, “how the mechanical admixture of two pigments can produce the various tints, exhibited at various times by the skin of the Chameleon, as primary yellow, and red, yellowish-grey, brown, and violet, or dull inky blue?”
The Chameleon is vulgarly reputed to feed on air; which absurd notion may have arisen from its habit of frequently inflating its body to an extraordinary degree, when it appears plump and well-fed. The air penetrates even into the feet and tail, increasing the bulk of the animal to double its former size. At other times it becomes quite flaccid, and then has a dreadful appearance of leanness, like that of a skeleton enclosed in a loose skin. In this state the lungs are very small, but when fully inflated, their vesicles cover almost the whole of the viscera. It feeds, like most other Lizards, on insects, to
- ↑ Ann. des Sci. Nat.; 1834.
