PLATYDACTYLUS MURALIS. 171 



Mediterranean, but is confined to the northern portion 

 of that continent. 



Family GECKOTIDiE. 



The body and head are flattened, especially the latter ; 

 the belly is near the ground, enlarged in the middle ; the 

 claws are short, of nearly equal length, separate, robust, 

 generally enlarged for a greater or less extent, and with 

 regular folds of the skin beneath, enabling them to climb 

 walls, and even to creep along a ceiling. There are no 

 teeth on the palate ; the tongue is short, fleshy, not ex- 

 tensile ; the tail is marked by circular folds, never very 

 long ; the skin above is chagrined with very small gra- 

 nular scales, with large tubercles often dispersed among 

 them ; beneath, the scales are flattened and imbricated ; 

 the eyes are very large ; the eyelids very short and with- 

 di^awn entirely between the eye and the orbit, giving the 

 animal a peculiar appearance. 



Genus PLATYDACTYLUS. 



The toes are widened throughout their length, and fur- 

 nished beneath with transverse, imbricated scales. 



Platydactylus muralis. 



Plafydactylus muralis, Dum. et Bib. toI. iii. p. 319. 



Ascalabotes Mauritanicus, Schinz, Europ. Fauii. vol. ii. p. 10 Buon. 



Faun. Ital. (figured). 

 Gecko des nmrailles, Cuvier. 



Description-. — The toes of the fore-feet are nearly equal 

 in length, only the third and fourth toes of all the feet 



i2 



