Skip to main content
Please wait...
Shantanu Kuveskar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons / https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Indian_Chameleon_%2…IMAGE INFORMATION

A Chameleon in Spirits, from Calcutta

Object Status:

Unlocated

Accession Date:

June 24, 1821

Primary Source Reference:

Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 114

Additional Source Text:

National Gazette and Literary Register (Philadelphia), 28 Aug 1821 provides donor'sname.

Notes:

The Indian Chameleon (Chamaeleo zeylanicus) is the only species of chameleons found in the Indian subcontinent.

The donor, Richard Harlan (1796-1843), M.D., was an American paleontologist, anatomist, and physician. He was appointed the Peale Museum's professor of comparative anatomy in April 1821.

Specimen Type:

Dead/preserved

Current Common Name:

Indian chameleon

Current Scientific Name

Chamaeleo zeylanicus