REPTILIA. 311 



species resembles this word. Species of this family are found in 

 the warm regions of both hemispheres of the earth ; many live in 

 houses, and climb with ease the walls and ceilings. Most of the 

 species are small, 5" — 7", few only attain a length of 10". 



On this family may be compared the Monograph (now somewhat anti- 

 quated) of J. G. Schneider, DenJcscJi^-i/ten der Konigl. Akad. der Wissen- 

 schaften zit, Milnchenfur die Jahre i8ii und 1812, s. 31 — 70, Tab. i. 



Lomatodactylus mihi. Toes dilated, striated beneath. 



Platydactylus Cuv. (and Thecadactylus ejusd.), Dum. and Bibr. 

 Toes dilated or winged through their whole length, finely plicated 

 transversely beneath. Tail mostly covered with small scales both 

 above and below. 



A) With feet cloven. 



a) With all the toes unarmed; the hack with small sub-equal scales. Sp. 

 Platydactylus ocellatus Cuv. (and inunguis ejusd.), Cuv. R. Ani. PI. 5, 

 figs. 3, 4; Cape of Good Hope; a small species, known to the colonists 

 there by the name of geitje ; Wiegmann formed from this species his genus 

 Packydactylus; — Platydactylus cepedianus Cuv. 1. 1. fig. 5, at Madagascar 

 and the island Mauritius ; in this species the thumb of the fore foot is only 

 a short stump ; femoral pores are present, which are wanting in the first- 

 named species. 



b) With thumb and second and third fingers unarmed. (Femoral and 

 prceanal pores none. Tubercles carinate or gibbous, scattered amongst the 

 scales of bach.) Sp. Platydactylus mauritanicus, Lacerta mauritanica L., 

 Gecko fascicularis Daud., Bonap. Faun. Ital., Amfibi, Tav. 54, fig. i; ash- 

 coloured, with transverse bands of tubercles on the back; this species is 

 met with in the south of France, Italy, Spain and Algiers; useful in 

 houses from destroying insects, it is however avoided and persecuted as 

 venomous, an example of human ingratitude. 



c) With thumb alone unarmed, the other fingers unguiculate. [Femoral 

 or prceanal pores at least in males.) Sp. Platydactylus guttatus Cuv., Lacerta 

 GecJco L., Seba Thesaur. i. Tab. 108, figs. 1—9, Daud. Rept. iv. Tab. 49 ; 

 one of the largest species of this genus, very common in the East Indies, in 

 the Sunda-islands, and also in China ; — Platydactylus vittatus, GecJco viftatus 

 HouTTUTN, Verhandel. van het Zeeuwsch Genoostschap, ix. 1782, bl. 336, 

 fig. 2, Brongniakt Classif. nat. des Rept. fig. 6, Cuv. R. Ani., ed. ill., 

 Rept. PI. 20, fig. I ; Amboyna, Timor ; brown red, with a milk-white stripe 

 along the middle of the back, which divides into two branches at the head, 

 running towards each eye; the tail with white rings. In this species 

 pori femoi-ales are present only in males ; they lie in a curved line, almost 

 from the middle of the abdominal surface in front of the cloaca to the end 

 of the thighs at the knee-joint. 



d) With cdl the fingers unguicidate. 



Sp. Platydactylus seychellensls DuM. and Bibb. 



