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structure, the granules differing in size on different parts, from that of a small piu's head to the diameter of the tenth of an inch, or even more, especially on the edges of the projecting parts of the head and jaws. Down the back runs a series of obscure denticulations or slight projections, forming a carina on that part. The feet consist each of five toes, three and two of which on each foot are connate, or united as far as the claws by a common skin: on the fore feet the two outward and three inward toes are united; and in the hind feet the two inward and three outward. The motions of the chameleon are extremely slow, and in sitting on a branch, or in passing from one to another, it fastens itself by coil. ing its tail round that from which it means to pass, till it has per fectly secured the other with its feet.

The general or usual changes of colour in the chameleon, so far as I have been able to ascertain from my own observation of such as have been brought into this country in a living state, are from a blueish ash-colour (its natural tinge) to a green and sometimes yellowish colour, spotted unequally with red. If the animal be exposed to a full sunshine, the unilluminated side generally ap pears, within the space of some minutes, of a pale yellow, with large 1oundish patches or spots of red-brown. On reversing the situation of the animal the same change takes place in an opposite direction; the side which was before in the shade now becoming either brown or ash-colour, while the other side becomes yellow and red; but these changes are subject to much variety both as to intensity of colours and disposition of spots.

The following is the description given by the anatomists of the French Academy:

"The colour of all the eminences of our chameleon when it was at rest, in the shade, and had continued a long time undisturbed, was a blueish grey, except under the feet, where it was white inclining to yellow, and the intervals of the granules of the skin were of a pale and yellowish red. This grey, which coloured all the parts exposed to the light, changed when in the sun; and all the places of its body which were illuminated, instead of their blueish colour, became of a brownish grey, inclining to a minime. The rest of the skin, which was not illuminated by the sun, changed its grey into several brisk and shining colours, forming spots about half a finger's breadth, reaching from the crest of the

spine to the middle of the back: others appeared on the ribs, fore legs, and tail. All these spots were of an Isabella colour, through the mixture of a pale yellow with which the granules were tinged, and of a bright red, which is the colour of the bottom of the skiu which is visible between the granules: the rest of the skin not enlightened by the suu, and which was of a paler grey than ordinary, resembled a cloth made of mixed wool; some of the granules being greenish, others of a minime-grey, and others of the usual blueish grey, the ground remaining as before. When the sun did not shine, the first grey appeared again by little and little, and spread itself all over the body, except under the feet, which continued of the same colour, but a little browner; and when, being in this state, some of the company handled it, there immediately appeared on its shoulders and fore legs several very blackish spots about the size of a finger nail, and which did not take place when it was handled by those who usually took care of it. Sometimes it was marked with brown spots, which inclined towards green. We afterwards wrapped it up in a linen cloth, where having been two or three minutes, we took it out whitish; but not so white as that of which Aldrovandus speaks, which was not to be distinguished from the linen on which it was laid. Ours, which had only changed its ordinary grey into a very pale one, after having kept this colour some time, lost it insensibly. This experiment made us question the truth of the Chameleon's taking all colours but white; as Theophrastus and Plutarch report; for ours seemed to have such a dis. position to retain this colour, that it grew pale every night; and when dead, it had more white than any other colour; nor did we find that it changed colour all over the body, as Aristotle reports; for when it takes other colours than grey, and disguises itself, to appear in masquerade, as Ælian pleasantly says, it covers only certain parts of the body with them. Lastly, to conclude the experi ments relative to the colours which the Chameleon can take, it was laid on substances of various colours, and wrapped up therein; but it took not them as it had done the white; and it took that only the first time the experiment was made, though it was repeated several times on different days.

"In making these experiments, we observed that there were a great many places of its skin which grew brown, but very little at a time to be certain of which we marked with small specks of ink

those granules which to us appeared whitest in its pale state; and we always found that when it grew brownest, and its skin spotted, those grains which we had marked, were always less brown than the

rest."

[Shaw. Mem. del' Acad. Royal.

SECTION V.

Salamander.

Lacerta salamander.-LINN.

THE Salamander, so long the subject of popular error, and of which so many idle tales have been recited by the more ancient naturalists, is an inhabitant of many parts of Germany, Italy, France, &c. but does not appear to have been discovered in England. It delights in moist and shady places, woods, &c. and is chiefly seen during a rainy season. In the winter it lies concealed in the hollows about the roots of old trees; in subterraneous recesses, or in the cavities of old walls, &c. The Salamander is easily distinguished by its colours; being of a deep shining black, variegated with large, oblong, and rather irregular patches of bright orange-yellow, which, on each side the back, are commonly so disposed as to form a pair of interrupted longitudinal stripes: the sides are marked by many large, transverse, wrinkles, the intermediate spaces rising into strongly marked convexities; and the sides of the tail often exhibit a similar appearance; on each side the back of the head are situated a pair of large tubercles, which are in reality the parotid glands, and are thus protuberant not only in some others of the Lizard tribe, but in a remarkable manner in the genus Rana: these parts, as well as the back and sides of the body, are beset in the salamander with several large open pores or foramina, through which exsudes a peculiar fluid, serving to lubricate the skin, and which, on any irritation, is secreted in a more sudden and copious manner under the form of a whitish gluten, of a slightly acrimonious nature; and from the readiness with which the animal, when disturbed, appears to eva. cuate it, and that even occasionally to some distance, has arisen the long-continued popular error of the salamander's being enabled to live uninjured in the fire, which it has been supposed capable of extinguishing by its natural coldness, and moisture: the real fact is,

that, like any of the cold and glutenous animals, as snails, &c. it, of course, is not quite so instantaneously destroyed by the force of fire as an animal of a drier nature would be. The general length of the salamander is about seven or eight inches, though it sometimes arrives at a much larger size in the number and form of its spots it varies considerably, and is occasionally seen entirely black the tail is somewhat shorter than the body, and of a round or cylindric form, gradually tapering to the extremity, which is rather obtuse than sharp. Like other lizards of this tribe, the salamander lives principally on insects, small snails, &c. its tongue, however, is not so formed as to catch these in a sudden manner, being short, broad, and in some degree confined, so as not to be darted out with celerity. It is capable of living in water as well as on land, and is sometimes found in stagnant pools, &c. Its general pace is slow, and its manners torpid.

A strange error appears to have prevailed relative to the supposed poisonous nature of this animal, and the malignity of its venom has even been considered as scarcely admitting a remedy. On this subject the writings of Gesner and Aldrovandus afford ample infor mation; but it is useless, as well as unpleasing, in these days of general illumination, to detail the absurd and erroneous doctrines of past ages. It may be sufficient to observe, that the salamander is perfectly innoxious, and incapable of inflicting either wound or poison on any of the larger animals; though it appears, from the experiments of Laurenti, that the common small grey lizard (L. agil. var.) is poisoned by biting a salamander, and thus swallowing the secreted fluid of the skin; becoming almost immediately convulsed, and dying in a very short time afterwards.

The salamander is a viviparous species; producing its young per fectly formed, having been first hatched from internal eggs, as in the viper, and some other amphibia. It is said to retire to the water in order to deposit its young, which, at their first exclusion, are furnished with ramified† branchial fins or processes on each side the

* It is remarkable, that in the beautiful representation of this animal in the frontispiece to Roesel's Historia Ranarum; the tail is longer than the body;

but this must be considered as a rare occurrence.

On this subject some confusion and disagreement will be found to take place in the works of different naturalists; Mr. Latreille seems to doubt very much whether the salamander really produces her young in the water, as well as whether they are at first furnished with ramified branchial fins.

neck, and which being merely temporary organs, are afterwards obliterated, as in the young of frogs and water-newts. The num. ber of young produced at one birth by the salamander, is said sometimes to amount to thirty or forty.

[Latreille. Shaw.

SECTION VI.

Frog. Toad.

Rana. LINN.

THIS genus is also numerous, though considerably less so than the preceding. The three following species are, perhaps, mostly worth noticing.

1. Common Frog.

Rana temporaria.—LINN.

This is the most frequent of all the European species, being al most every where seen in moist situations, or wherever it can com. mand a sufficient quantity of insects, worms, &c. on which it feeds. In colour it varies considerably, but its general tinge is olive-brown, variegated, on the upper parts of the body and limbs, with irregular blackish spots; those on the limbs being mostly disposed in a transverse direction: beneath each eye is a longish mark or patch, reaching to the setting on of the fore-legs, and which seems to form one of its principal specific distinctions.

It is generally in the month of March that the frog deposits its ova or spawn, consisting of a large heap or clustered mass of gela. tinous transparent eggs, in each of which is imbedded the embryo, or tadpole, in the form of a round black globule. The spawn commonly lies more than a month, or sometimes five weeks, before the larves or tadpoles are hatched from it; and during this period each egg gradually enlarges in size, and a few days before the time of exclusion, the young animals may be perceived to move about in the surrounding gluten. When first hatched, they feed on the remains of the gluten in which they were imbedded; and in the space of a few days, if narrowly examined, they will be found to be furnished, on each side of the head, with a pair of ramified branchise or temporary organs, which again disappear after a certain space.

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