788 PROCEEDINGS O F THE NA TWNA L M USE UM. vol. xxi. 



in many geckos a more or less enlarged oblong swelling which, in large 

 specimens, often assumes great dimensions — equalling one-half the size 

 of the skull. This is a sac filled with calcareous mat- 

 ter, which is connected with the ear by ducts or canals. 

 Professor Wiedersheimer, who was the first to describe 

 this organ in detail, considers it an auxiliary to the audi- 

 FiG i.-tkrminal tory apparatus, having as its object the perfecting of 

 JOINT OF TOE OF the scusc of hearing in the animals. These calcareous 

 LEPIDODACTYLU8 jjj^gggg ^ro poi^ularlv, but erroneously, l^elieved to be 



LUGUBRIS. (En- ^ '^ '' ' *' ' 



LAR6EU.) the undeveloped eggs which the females are supposed 



to carry about in a sort of pouch until they are deposited 

 in some safe place for hatching. 



The geckos, with very few exceptions, seem to be oviparous, the eggs 

 being spherical and covered with a white, hard shell. 



LEPIDODACTYLUS' Fitzinger. 



1843. — Lepidodactylus Fitzinger, Syst. Kept., p. 98 (type, L. Ingniris). 

 1845. — Amydosaurus Gray, Cat. Lizards Brit. Mus., p. 162 (same type). 



Compressed distal phalanx of digits adhering to the dilated basal 

 portion and extending somewhat beyond it, but not rising angularly 

 from within the edge; subdigital lamella' divided by a median groove; 

 thumb without claw ; no enlarged plates on under side of tail. 



The geographical range of the genus does not exceed that of the 

 typical species. A few imperfectly known sijecies, with habitats out- 

 side that range, have been assigned to it, but it is doubtful whether 

 they really belong there. 



LEPIDODACTYLUS LUGUBRIS (Dumeril and Bibron). 



MOURNING GECKO. 



(Figs. 1, 6.) 



1836. — riatydactyhis luguhris Dumeril and Bibron, Erp(^t. G6n., Ill, p. 304 (type 

 locality, Tahiti). — LepidodactyluH lugubris Fitzinger, Syst. Eept. (1843), 

 J). 98. — Boulenger, Proc. Zool. Soc, Londou, 1883, p. 120, pi. xxii, fig. 

 3; Cat., Liz. Brit. Mus., I (1885), p. 165; III (1887), p. 487; Aim. Mag. 

 Nat. Hist., (6) XX, September, 1897, p. 306. — Peripia lugtihris Peters and 

 Doria, Ann. Mus. Civ. St. Nat., Geneva, XIII (1878), p. 371. 



1857. — Perupus neglectm Girard, Proc. Phila. Acad., p. 197; extr. p. 5 (type local- 

 ity, unknown) ; U. S. Expl. Exp. Herpet. (1858), p. 278. — Gehyra ? neglecta 

 Boulenger, Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus. (1885), I, p. 150. 



1858. — Hemidactylus meijcri Blkeker, Natuurk. Tijds. Nederl. Ind., XVI, p. 47 

 (type locality, Bintaug). 



1864. — Peripia cantoris Gunthek, Kept. Brit. Ind., p. 110 (type localty, Pinang). 



1869. — Gymnodactylus caudeloti Bavay, Mdm. Soc. Linn. Normandie, XV, No. 5, 

 p. 13 (type locality, New Caledonia). 



1872. — Peripia meyeri Gunther, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1872, j). 594. 



1874. — Peripia mysorensis Meyer, Sitz. Ber. Berlin Akad., 1874, p. 129 (type local- 

 ity, Mysore). 



iFrom Xeitii, -Soi, scale; and ddcHrvAoi, finger. 



