512 



LACERTILIA GECKONES 



CHAP. 



ceilings whitened. It was naturally surmised that so long a 

 suspension of its accustomed habits would have led to the 

 disappearance of the little lizard ; but on the return of its 

 old friends, it made its entrance as usual at their first 

 dinner the instant the cloth was removed." 



Ptychozoon. The digits 

 have the same structure as 

 described in the genus Gecko, 

 but they are entirely webbed. 

 The extraordinary feature of 

 Ptychozoon is the membran- 

 ous expansions on the sides of 

 the head, body, limbs, and tail, 

 which are said to act as para- 

 chutes. P. homalocephalum, 

 the only species, inhabits the 

 Malay Islands and the Malay 

 Peninsula. It reaches a 

 length of 8 inches. A speci- 

 men obtained by F. H. Bauer 

 in Java, in the month of 

 November, laid two eggs a 

 few days after its capture. 

 One young was hatched in 

 the middle of the following 

 May, and two days later 

 another came out of the 

 second egg. The character- 

 istic folds of the skin were 

 already clearly discernible. 

 Sub-Fam. 2. Euble- 



FIG. 121. Ptychozoon homalocephalum. x |. 



pharinae. - - Differing from 

 the true Geckos by their 

 procoelous vertebrae and the fusion of the two parietal bones 

 into one. The eyelids are not reduced, but remain functional. 

 This sub -family is undoubtedly a heterogeneous assembly, as 

 indicated by the very scattered distribution of its few species 

 (about seven), in India, West Africa, and Central America. 



Sub-Fam. 3. Uroplatinae, composed of a few species of the 

 genus Uroplates in Madagascar. The distinctive characters of 



