The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-06-18
A Chameleon's Biography.

A chaplain In the British navy tells
the following story of his pet chameleon,
who answers to the name Of Chummy /
caught this pretty little creature in a
garden at Sierra Leone; placed him in
a basket suspended from the beam, 80
that he could not escape; his color was
dull green. For the first few days of his
sailor life'he was timid, refused food in
the shape of dead flies offered to him,
and met all overtures at friendship with
angry Kisses. Hunger probably softened
down this hostile demeanor, for he
deigned at last to swallow dead fly.
After this a complete "change came DER
the spirit of his dream" he allowed
himself to be handled; and after had
placed him close to live fly, which he
Immediately appropriated to himself, his
temper was altered-he readily chung on
to my hand. When called by name he
would run to the outer rim of his basket,
and if was sitting at my table would
quietly drop on my head, and crawl
about all over the cabin in search of
flies. / thus had many opportunities to
watch his change of color and his habits.
With respect to color, it was, when the
animal was in perfect state of repose, a
dull green; but when basking in the sun,
on my port sill, the side turned towards
the light frightened up to a yellowish
green, the other side retaining its dull
tint. When pleased the whole body
frightened up to a very brilliant yellow
ish green, with three jet-black saddle
shaped marks on his back, rings of black
on his tail, his cup-shaped eyes marked
with black lines like the meridian of lon
gitude ON globe. This was his most
beautiful aspect. l could always pro-
duce this color by letting him climb up
the curtain if fly was cruising any
where near. This seemed to be to him
intense bliss. l teased him once to make
him angry, wishing to discover what
effect anger might have upon his color.
He turned to dirty black, eyes and all,
but he looked SO unhappy, and his cOun-
tenance otherwise placid and pleasing so
altered, that / never repeated the exper-
iment. To see from what distance his
tongue could reach fly, used to hold
him on my hand and show him fly on
the bulkhead; he seldom attempted to
catch it if he thought it was out of reach.
l have seen him, however, catch fly
eight inches off, darting his thin, attenu-
ated tongue with unerring aim. Some
times he overbalanced himself in the at
tempt, saving himself from falling by
quickly winding his prehensile tail round
my finger.
Every day he came to the dinner table
at the time children make their appear
ance at the festive board, and it was
most interesting to watch his movements,
his likes and dislikes, and the wonderful
play of his countenance. When called
he would run from one end of the table
to the other, well knowing by experience
that fly was at hand. The moment he
caught sight of one he would focus his
eyes to Judge of the distance. If it was
close he would walk slowly and warily
if at distance he would run at first,
then gradually decrease his speed, and as
he approached he would point with one
foot, then with the other, slowly creep
ing until he thought he was in practical
BILE distance, focus his eyes again to guide
the length of his tongue, and whether
the distance was three or six inches, the
viscous tip always just reached the fly,
never falling short nor darting beyond.
1t was curious at these times to watch
the use he made of his Independent eyes.
Having first ascertained the angular dis
lance of the fly by using both eyes, he
would advance towards it, keeping only
one on the object, looking behind him
with the other and if he CHANGED to see
another fly behind him, he would imme-
diately stop, turn his head slowly round
and focus this one. If it was nearer he
would leave the first and 60 after this;
but if it was further, he would return to
the first, using one eye, but still taking
survey all round. Once fly happened
to settle on the salt he caught it, but
with it some salt stuck to his tongue he
evidently did not like the taste of salt,
for he Immediately spat out both fly and
salt, making most hideous grimaces, as a
child might make after dose of EPSON
salts. Hr never after that attempted to
catch fly on the SALT One of the Off
GERS rolled up small pellet of paper
and linking it to represent fly ficked it
across the paper. Chummy rushed at it
once, caught it, found out his mistake,
spat it out, and was never taken in
again. He was very fond of port wine;
he would cling to the rim of the glass
and sip it, smacking his lips, looking
pleased and Frightening in color. He
never touched sherry, and claret was his
aversion.
brought him home in summer. He
lived till flies disappeared, and was here,
too, great pet of the household. When
we had no more flies to give him, he was
kept alive for some time on cold tea, with
milk, of which he was very fond. His
basket was lined with flannel, he was
kept in warm room, but an English
winter was too much sor him, and poor
Chummy at last died in commissions 1
have had the little creature now in spir-
its for many years. He retains his orig
inal dull green, but his brilliant change
of color, and his pleasant pretty ways
are now only happy memories of happy
days passed in happy ship-I care not
to think how many happy years ago.
At the Vatican.