70 THE VIVARIUM. 
other than their own. They seem always ready to challenge or 
fight any Reptile about their own size. They frequently have 
little pitched battles over their prey. 
Geckos are carnivorous, but Dr. Giinther says, in his “‘ Reptiles 
of British India,” that ‘‘ their greediness has developed some in- 
tellectual faculties in the House Geckos. Accustomed to be fed 
at a certain time with rice, etc., these little Lizards will punctu- 
ally make their appearance and fearlessly take the proffered 
food.” They have, as a rule, keen appetites, and partake of 
a most varied ‘‘ bill of fare’? — beetles, moths, spiders, cock- 
roaches, mealworms, flies, bees, most other insects, their own 
shed skins, and even, it is said, their own discarded tail and 
their own little ones. 
Geckos are chiefly famous for two extraordinary accomplish- 
ments. One is the utterance of a distinct cry or call, which of 
course is most unusual among Lizards. The cry, in some species, 
sounds like ‘‘tok-tay,”’ in others like the “ click-click” of the 
horseman. From this strange peculiarity the whole family has 
recelved the name of Gecko, “ Gecko”’ being a fair imitation of 
the call made by some of the species. It is said, that in the 
stillness of night, the voice of certain Geckos is sufficiently loud 
to awaken the soundest sleepers. The hollows of the trees in 
which these cries are frequently made, give a strange resonance 
to their call, which is chiefly used, it is supposed, by the male 
to attract the attention of the female. The females, as a rule, 
lay only one egg at a time, which, in appearance, is like that 
of other lizards of their own size, being covered with a white, 
hard, calcareous envelope. Probably each female will produce 
an egg two or three times during the breeding season. Several 
females occasionally deposit their eggs in the same hole in the 
wall or in a similar hiding-place. 
At first the young lead a retired life under the shelter of some 
stone, or in the hollow of a tree, or in a hole in the wall. At 
any rate, they seem to have sufficient instinct to keep out of the 
way of their unnatural parents, who, if they happen to meet 
them, are not able to resist the temptation of devouring them. 
The young Geckos literally “come out” and face the dangers 
of Gecko society when they are little more than half-grown. 
