112 TROPICAL NATURE, AND OTHER ESSAYS. 



cling to the ceilings, along which they run back down- 

 wards in pursuit of flies, holding on by means of their 

 dilated toes with suctorial discs ; though sometimes, 

 losing hold, they fall upon the table or on the upturned 

 face of the visitor. In the forests large, flat, and marbled 

 Geckos cling to the smooth trunks ; small and active 

 lizards rest on the foliage ; while occasionally the larger 

 kinds, three or four feet long, rustle heavily as they 

 move among the fallen leaves. 



Their colours vary much, but are usually in harmony 

 with their surroundings and habits. Those that climb 

 about walls and rocks are stone-coloured, and sometimes 

 nearly black ; the house lizards are grey or pale-ashy, 

 and are hardly visible on a palm-leaf thatch, or even on 

 a white-washed ceiling. In the forest they are often 

 mottled with ashy-green, like lichen- grown bark. Most 

 of the ground-lizards are yellowish or brown ; but some 

 are of beautiful green colours, with very long and slender 

 tails. These are among the most active and lively ; and 

 instead of crawling on their bellies like many lizards, 

 they stand well upon their feet and scamper about with 

 the agility and vivacity of kittens. Their tails are very 

 brittle ; a slight blow causing them to snap off, when 

 a new one grows, which is, however, not so perfectly 

 formed and completely scaled as the original member. 

 It is not uncommon, when a tail is half broken, for a 

 new one to grow out of the wound, producing the curious 

 phenomenon of a forked tail. There are about 1,300 

 different kinds of lizards known, the great majority of 

 which inhabit the tropics, and they probably increase 

 in numbers towards the equator. A rich vegetation and a 

 due proportion of moisture and sunshine seem favourable 



