THE LIZARDS 113 



of skin on each side of the body, while the tail has a 

 veritable feathered edge of thin skin, like an arrow. 

 The thin attachments of skin serve the animal in para- 

 chute-like fashion, enabling it to make long, scaling 

 leaps from tree to tree. 



Tarentola is made up of five typical geckos, four 

 inhabiting northern Africa and the borders of the Med- 

 iterranean; the remaining species is found in the West 

 Indies. Each digit is strongly dilated at the tip, the 

 underside of which forms an adhesive disk. If this 

 disk is closely examined the suctorial appendage will 

 be found undivided — thus we find a difference from 

 such genera as Phyllodactylus, where there is a pair of 

 adhesive pads on each toe. By such characters the 

 various genera of the geckos are separated and arranged 

 in technical classification. In an accompanying illustra- 

 tion will be seen the underside of a gecko — Tarentola 

 annularis — on a pane of glass. The illustration not 

 only shows the clinging power of the "suckers," but 

 their structure as well. The disks are strikingly like the 

 magnified pads on the foot of a fly; and their method 

 of adhesion is the same — not aided by a sticky secretion, 

 but through actual suction produced by close-set, con- 

 cave areas. When a gecko moves over very rough sur- 

 faces the claws are called into play like those of an 

 ordinary lizard. If a tame gecko runs over one's hand 

 and an attempt is made to shake it off, an indescribable, 

 clammy sensation is produced by the animal's feet that 

 show a surprising amount of adhesive power. A sim- 

 ilar development among lizards will be found among 

 the species of Anolis, of the family Iguanidai. 



Tarentola annularis is a fine, stout gecko inhabiting 

 Abyssinia, Egypt and Arabia. It grows to a length of 

 six inches. The usual hue is a pale clay color, some- 



