GECKOTID&. 125 
be attributed to them. There are about sixteen known species 
of Geckos distributed universally over all tropical and some temperate 
countries. 
[The Geckotide are divided into many genera, according to the 
construction of the toes. Duméril refers to the comparative shortness 
and general structure of the feet and conformation of the toes, which 
he describes and figures in detail. The lower surface and the sole, 
he states, are very dilatable, and furnished with small plates of 
Fig. 30.—Wall Gecko. 
lamellz, following or overlying each other in a mode which varies in 
the different species. The nails are sometimes wanting on all the 
toes, but more frequently possess them, when they are hooked, 
and more or less retractile; the toes sometimes are united at 
the base, and in /Vatydactylus the extremity of the toe expands 
into a fan shape, as in the Tree Frogs. The membranous and 
soft plates of the lower surface of the toes have various modifi- 
cations in different genera, which has been made the basis of 
their arrangement. The Wall Gecko is supposed by Gesner to 
be the Lizard spoken of by Aristophanes and Theophrastus, and 
the Tarentula of the Italians ; and there is little doubt that it was 
the ’A&kadaBdévue Of Aristotle and the ancient Greeks; it clambered 
