ze, chiefly of the grass-lizard kind, which is
smooth and glossy. The former are in length from about four inches down
to an inch or less, and are the largest reptiles that can walk in an
inverted situation: one of these, of size sufficient to devour a
cockroach, runs on the ceiling of a room, and in that situation seizes
its prey with the utmost facility. This they seem to be enabled to do
from the rugose structure of their feet, with which they adhere strongly
to the smoothest surface. Sometimes however, on springing too eagerly at
a fly, they lose their hold, and drop to the floor, on which occasions a
circumstance occurs not undeserving of notice. The tail being frequently
separated from the body by the shock (as it may be at any of the
vertebrae by the slightest force, without loss of blood or evident pain
to the animal, and sometimes, as it would seem, from the effect of fear
alone) within a little time, like the mutilated claw of a lobster, begins
to renew itself. They are produced from eggs about the size of the
wren's, of which the female carries two at a time, one in the lower, and
one in the upper part of the abdomen, on opposite sides; they are always
cold to the touch, and yet the transparency of their bodies gives an
opportunity of observing that their fluids have as brisk a circulation as
those of warm-blooded animals: in none have I seen the peristaltic motion
so obvious as in these. It may not be useless to mention that these
phenomena were best observed at night when the lizard was on the outside
of a pane of glass, with a candle on the inside. There is, I believe, no
class of living creatures in which the gradations can be traced with such
minuteness and regularity as in this; where, from the small animal just
described, to the huge alligator or crocodile, a chain may be traced
containing almost innumerable links, of which the remotest have a
striking resemblance to each other, and seem, at first view, to differ
only in bulk.

CHAMELEON.

The chameleon, gruning: these are about a foot and half long, including
the tail; the colour, green with brown spots, as I had it preserved; when
alive in the woods they are generally green, but not from the reflection
of the leaves, as some have supposed. When first caught they usually turn
brown, apparently the effect of fear or anger, as men become pale or red;
but if undisturbed soon resume a deep green on the back, and a yellow
green on the belly, the tail rema