HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 165 



with but little notice. But it is by no means confined to the habitations of men. 

 Every old wall and almost every tree possesses a tenant or two of this species. It is 

 excessively lively, and even when found quietly ensconced in a hole, generally man- 

 ages to escape — its glittering little eyes (black, with yellow ocher iris) appearing to 

 know no sleep; and an attempt to capture the runaway seldom results in more than 

 the seizure of an animated tail, wrenched off with a jerk by the little fellow as it slips 

 away, without loss of blood. The younger individuals are much darker than the 

 larger and older animals, which are sometimes almost albinos. * * * 



I have found the eggs of this gecko in holes in walls or among mortar rubbish. 

 They usually lie several together, are round, and did not seem to me to offer any 

 appearance other than those of ordinary lizards. The young, when first hatched, 

 keep much to themselves under stones in dark cellars, where they live until they 

 attain two-thirds the size of the adults. At this stage they begin to show out in con- 

 spicuous places, but always evince alarm at the approach of their older brethren; 

 for what reason, I could not make out. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF GEKKONID.E INHABITING JAPAN AND ADJACENT TERRITORY. 



a' Infradigital plates in a single series; the free distal joint at the extremity of the 

 digital expansion. 

 b^ Digits with but a slight rudiment of web at base; no lateral parachute-like expan- 

 sion Gekko, p. 165 



62 Digits entirely webbed; wide lateral parachute-like dermal expansion to body, 



limbs, and tail '. Ptychozoon, p. 170 



a? Infradigital plates in a double series, the distal joint rising from within the extrem- 

 ity of the digital expajision. 

 6^ Inner digit with a compressed clawed phalanx. 



c^ Digits free; body without lateral dermal expansion Hemidactylus, p. 172 



c^ Digits half webbed; body with a much developed lateral dermal expansion. 



Cosymbotus, p. 178 

 fe2 Inner digit clawless Peropus, p. 180 



Genus GEKKO a Laurenti. 



1768. Gekko Laurenti, Synops. Rept., p. 43 (type, G. verticillatus) . 



1800. Gecko Cuvier, Legons d'Anat. Comp., I, tabl. iii (emendation). 



1810. Gecus Rafinesque, Caratteri, p. 9 (emendation). 



1826. Platydactylus Fitzinger, Neue Classif. Rept., p. 13 (same type) (not of 



Oken 1817). 

 1833. Lomatodactylus van der Hoeven, Handb. Dierk., II, Pt. 2, p. 342 (type, L. 



vittatus). 

 1843. Scelotretus Fitzinger, Syst. Rept., p. 101 (type, (f. vittatus). 



GEKKO JAPONICUS (Dumeril and Bibron). 



YAMORI. 



Plate XIII. 



1836. Platydactylus japoniciis Dumeril and Bibron, Erpet. Gen., Ill, p. 337 

 (type-locality, Japan; types in Paris Mus.). — Dumeril, Cat. Meth. Rept. 

 Mus. Paris, I, 1851, p. 37. — Gecko japonicus Guenther, Rept. Brit. 

 India, 1864, p. 103 (southern Japan; Chusan, China; Formosa). — Hilgen- 

 DORF, Sitz. Bet. Ges. Naturf. Fr. Berlin, 1880, p. 113. — Boulenger, Cat. 



« A name derived from the sound made by several species. 



