The sun., 1898-01-02
CHAMELEON CHANGES OF TINT
An Attempt to Tell How They Are Produced
ThrouEh tho sense or sight.


Frop, the Scientific american.
These little creatures wero about avo inches
In length, Of a general dark green hue shading
to gray, assimilating tho various objects upon
which they rested slowly but very decidedly.
/ arranged several little corrals. one with q
white base, another with gray, another with
a green, and changed the occupants about. In
ton or fifteen minutes they very materially
would adapt themselves to the very tint,
though they never became white the change
then being merely fading out Of all lines leav'
ing tho body q faint gray. At night they be-
came beautiful green, which may be consid'
ered their normal color. Tho changes made In
confinement, am confident, were not 30 rapid
as those when lizards were in their native
Florida, where moisture and hot days and
nights gave them the exact temperature nec-
sssary for their best displays
uncanny In watching the change of color.
When placed upon q green twtg the little crea-
eps sns is M0fa front and hind legs at full length and
branch. 80 that Il was difficult to Cd &distinguish
was deepening and stealing over It's bnck and
sides, making tho resemblance still moro
striking The natural Of Who
might be that the anolis had glanced around,
and perceivlng that 1t was presenting con-
s"s' had assumed a1s % Color more no. protective: In
other words, that there was some Intelligent
act associated with the change. When the the
same tint as at night and did not change when
placed upon tho most striking colors, showing
Which aE I the S different @ TT tints We're obtained. The
act of adaptation is perfectly involuntary, or
mode without the knowledge Of the animal,
tho pigment cells of the animal At least this
is the generally accepted explanation, and the
which have been made with 6nd fhoi
tho eye 10 tho medium.
These peculiar changes, which arc SO well
By giancing ' at t. the her pigment cells Of frog The
skin Is seen to consist of two portions. the
cults and epidermis,, the latter apparently
cavities among the nerves, which arc com,
monty filled with pigment and are very sensi.
tive confracting and "as ars n noed
tophores, and vary in color in different animela
and in the parts Of each animal, and may be
shades. The color OF tho chromatophores ap.
pears to change during contraction or eXpan,
sion, and constitutes most complicated ,s and
delicate study. Thus In little fsh lGo6tus
Ruthenspa,vfl Heincke, the German natural
list. while watching its yellow, pigment cells
Thess ees aqs a the
with more or less regularity, and upon theI
contraction and expansion depends the pre- Pre-
ment coils or chromatophores expand, the pre-
vailing color will become black and the very
light spots in tho animal dull. On the other
hand II they contract. a reverse effect obtains
Exactly how these wonderful changes In al
animals which adapt themselves to their en-.
yironments are Produced is not known, but
IL is assumed that certain colors through the
medium OF the optic nerve produce contrac
tive tint or ono which assimilates that upor
which the animal is resting. The eye receives
the stimulus or impression, which passes from
the optic nerves to the sympathetic nerve, &c
reaching the various series OF chromatophores