2470 



SCALED REPTILES 



the aid of which the creatures are enabled to ascend walls and run across the 

 ceilings of rooms. In some cases the claws are retractile, either within the plates 

 of the discs, or into sheaths, and in other instances the toes may be united by webs, 

 which are not, however, for the purpose of swimming, all the geckoes being land 

 lizards. The numerous teeth are small, and attached to one side of the summit of 

 the jaw (pleurodont) 



TURKISH GECKO. 



(Natural size.) 



The geckoes being so numerous in species, which are arranged under 

 Lobe-Footed - . . - . ., , . 11-1 



G . no less than forty -nine genera, it is of course impossible in a work like 



the present to do more than notice a few of the better known or more 

 striking. Among these, one of the most familiar is the little lobe- or fan-footed 

 gecko (Ptyodactylus lobatus) of Northern Africa. Arabia, and Syria. This is one 

 of two species belonging to a genus characterized by the toes (as shown in the 



