Fourteen hand muscles in three lizards having different modes of life were accurately described and compared. The elegant and quick move ments of Tarentola, and the ability of holding the branches of trees in the case of Chamaeleon is due to the free and highly mobile move ments of the digits of the hand, as a result of the absence of palmar aponeurosis. In fact, the arrangements of the digital scales in Tarentola, and the digits of Chamaeleon in two opposing groups represent high degree of functional adaptations.