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The chameleon,See Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. ii. 11 (503 b 2); Ogle on De Part. Animal. iv. 11 (692 a 22 ff.). See also Aelian, De Natura Animal, iv. 33; and cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 122 for the chameleon’s exclusive diet of air; nec alio quam aeris alimento. to be sure, is metachromatic, but not from any design or desire to conceal itself; it changes colour uselessly from fear, being naturally timid and cowardly. And this is consistent with the abundance of air in it, as TheophrastusFrag. 189 Wimmer (p. 225); Aristotle says merely, The change takes place when it is inflated by air. says; for nearly the whole body of the creature is occupied by its lungs,Which confirms Karsch’s emendation of Aristotle, Historia Animal. ii. 11 (503 b 21); for Theophrastus and Plutarch must have had lungs and not membranes in their text of Aristotle. which shows it to be full of air and for this reason easily moved to change colour. But this same action on the part of the octopus is not an emotional response, but a deliberate change, since it uses this device to escape what it fears and to capture what it feeds on: by this deceit it can both seize the latter, which does not try to escape, and avoid the former, which proceeds on its way. Now the story that it eats its own tentaclesSee 965 e supra and the note; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 87; Mor. 1059 e, 1098 e, Comm. in Hes. fr. 53 (Bernardakis, vol. VII, p. 77). is a lie, but it is true that it fears the moray and the conger. It is, in fact, maltreated by them; for it cannot do them harm, since they slip from its grasp. On the other hand, when the crawfishThe langouste as distinguished from the homard; see Aelian, De Natura Animal. i. 32; ix. 25; x. 38; Thompson on Aristotle, Historia Animal. viii. 2 (590 b 16); Glossary, pp. 102 ff.; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 185; Antigonus, Hist. Mirab. 92. has once got them in its grasp, it wins the victory easily, for smoothness is no aid against roughness; yet when the octopus has once thrust its tentacles inside the crawfish, the latter succumbs. And so Nature has created this cycleThe octopus is worsted by the moray and the conger, which in turn are defeated by the crawfish, which (to complete the cycle) becomes the octopus’ prey. The whole engagement is graphically portrayed in Oppian, Hal. ii. 253-418. For Nature’s battle see, e.g., Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii. 79. and succession of mutual pursuit and flight as a field for the exercise and competitive practice of adroitness and intelligence.
