22 Catalogue of Reptiles inhabiting the 



is at rest, the membranes of the cheeks, and the body are kept 

 in close contact with these parts ; in leaping those of the body are 

 somewhat stretched out, and all the membranes together then act as a 

 parachute. Also this lizard has in some degree the power of changing 

 the ground colour from a darker to a lighter shade. The apex of the 

 tongue is rounded, with a small notch in the centre. A female while 

 in my possession refused insects and water. She deposited a single 

 egg, of a spherical form, about half an inch in diameter, soft, and of a 

 yellowish white colour, which the following day she devoured. A male 

 ate the integuments he had been changing. The female was of the 

 following dimensions : 



Length of the head, 1 inch. 



Ditto ditto trunk, , 2f 



Ditto ditto tail, 3f 



Entire length, 7f inches. 

 In the Museum of the Asiatic Society is preserved a specimen of 

 Lejjtophis ornatus, (Merrem,) in the act of devouring one of the pre- 

 sent species. The serpent was captured in the island of Ramree on 

 the coast of Arracan. 



Gen. Hemidactylus, Cuvier. 

 End of the toes widened into an oval disk, with a double series of 

 transverse, imbricate plates beneath. From the middle of the disk 

 rise the slender second and third nailed phalanx. A series of scuta 

 beneath the tail. 



Hemidactylus peronii, Dum. and Bibr. 



Syn. — Hemidactylus leiurus, Gray. 

 Peripia peronii, Gray : Catal. 



Under the chin a large triangular figure, composed of six elongated, 

 towards the sides decreasing, scales ; thumbs nailless ; male with femoral 

 pores ; tail much depressed, very broad at the root, tapering towards 

 the point, (sometimes with a small membrane on each side of the 

 point,) with a series of scuta beneath ; pupil vertical, shaped like two 

 rhombs placed with the angles towards each other.* 



* Such is its appearance in the living- animal, when the eye is exposed to the influence 

 of light. M. M. Dumeril and Bibron note the pupil being " elliptical," which pro- 

 bably originates in their describing from preserved specimens, although my own in spi- 

 rits of wine have retained the original form of the pupil. 



