. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. 190 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 1. to move forward, keeping one hand, and perhaps a foot as well, poised in air for several min- utes before eventual- ly deciding to put them down and con- tinue its journey. The independent movement of its eyes was ludicrous, as one would be looking forward in- tently at an unwary and unsuspecting fly, while the other would be looking in our direction as if to say "watch me catch this ; In its natural wild state the chameleon is not always such a slow moving crea- ture as it appears to be
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. 190 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 1. to move forward, keeping one hand, and perhaps a foot as well, poised in air for several min- utes before eventual- ly deciding to put them down and con- tinue its journey. The independent movement of its eyes was ludicrous, as one would be looking forward in- tently at an unwary and unsuspecting fly, while the other would be looking in our direction as if to say "watch me catch this ; In its natural wild state the chameleon is not always such a slow moving crea- ture as it appears to be in captivity. It is insectivorous and arboreal, being very clumsy when jilaced on the ground. Although chameleons can change colour, and comparatively quickly, they are rivalled both as to speed of chang- ing and variety of colours by many species of iguanas (the iguana, which is not known to Australia is very dis- tinct from the goana) and even some of the agamas. The following experi- ments on its colour changes were carried out in the reptile house of the New York Zoological Park, the results being published in Reptiles of the World by Mr. R. L. Ditmars. Four specimens of the common chameleon (C. vulgaris) -were taken and the first was placed in the sunlight so that only one side was exposed to the rays. The second was also put in the sun, but at such an angle as to entirely suffuse the reptile with rays. A third was placed in a dark box at a tempera- ture of 75° Fahrenheit, while a fourth was placed in a dark box at a tempera- ture of 50° Fahrenheit. After fifteen minutes the specimens were imcovered and the following results were noted:— The common Chameleon makes a very interesting pet and is so used in many parts of the world. Its power to change colour is much overrated, and in this respect it cannot compare with some of the Agamas and Iguanas. Photo.—J. K. Kinghorn. The first was dark brown on the side that had been exposed to the sun, while the shadowed side was
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
