SOME ARACHNIDS AT HANOVER, CAPE COLONY. 147 



creature, swaying to and fro with flattened head, ready to fight. It 

 looked like the gay stalk of some beautiful aloe; and its beauty and 

 pluck so appealed to me that I captured it only with great reluctance. 

 Of course, the kopjes and the flats abound with various lizards, 

 some of the most gaudy colors. For instance, there is one with 

 spiked coat and rough, ringed tail, which has a red head, blue throat, 

 neck and sides, while the back varies from red to brown towards 

 the tail. It sits on a rock and quaintly raises itself up and down 

 on its forelegs. If danger approaches, it slips into a crevice, from 

 whence it can hardly be taken alive, for the spikes catch on the stone 

 so firmly that the lizard is able to resist almost all attempts to take 

 it out. But most interesting, perhaps, are the Geckos (Pachydactylus 

 mariquensis) , which the Dutch call getjes, also generally found under 

 stones. They are about six inches long and not so quick in their move- 

 ments as lizards usually are. This and their defencelessness have 

 induced a peculiar method of protection. Their fleshy tails are quite 

 loosely affixed, being deeply constricted all round where they join the 

 body. A slight touch will break them off so much so that at times 

 the getje seems almost to throw them off. Then is seen a strange 

 thing. The tail jumps about in the most lively manner, and thus 

 attracts the attention of the pursuer, while the getje quietly and unob- 

 trusively moves away unobserved and goes and grows another tail ! 

 This is a peculiar and yet very effective method of protection; there 

 are other local lizards that part with their tails with comparative ease, 

 but they are quicker in their movements and their tails are not nearly 

 so lively; the method has reached perfection in the case of the getje 

 only. I am generally accompanied in my walks by my wife's little 

 fox terrier. She seldom catches a getje. When she jumps at one, 

 off flies the tail, which she invariably seizes as it plunges frantically 

 about, and the getje escapes. The getjes are of various colors, some 

 very handsome. Some kinds burrow holes in the sand, and these occa- 

 sionally take possession of deserted nests of the large trap-door spiders. 

 (I say deserted; they may, however, kill the spiders; but I do not 

 think they do.) They somewhat narrow the opening of the tube 

 just under the lid, to about the size of their body, but they leave 

 the lid intact and keep it in use, opening and shutting it (or allowing 

 it to shut itself) at will. On lifting a lid on one occasion, I found 

 the getje in the hole, peering out from under the slightly-gaping lid, 

 with its head just level with the surface of the ground a very odd 

 sight. I dug down, and at the bottom of the hole found its egg, which 

 it was evidently guarding. On another occasion I found two at the 

 bottom of a large closed trap-door nest. The lid of a nest, when 

 occupied by the getje, does not close so perfectly as when occupied 

 by the spider, due perhaps to the narrowing of the opening. Though 



