FEET OF THE GECKO. 



461 



It is somewhat analogous to that employed in 

 the case of the house-fly, already mentioned. 

 Each foot has five toes ; all, except the thumb, 

 terminated by a sharp curved claw. On the 

 under surface of each toe (represented in Fig. 

 211) there are as many as sixteen transverse 

 slits, leading to the same number of cavities, or 



sacs; these open for- 

 wards, and their exter- 

 nal edge is serrated 

 appearing like the teeth 

 of a small-toothed comb. 

 A section of the foot, 

 showing these cavities, 

 is seen in Fig. 212. All 

 these parts, together 

 with the cavities, are 

 covered or lined with 

 cuticle. Below them 

 are large muscles which draw down the claw ; 

 and from the tendons of these muscles arise two 

 sets of smaller muscles, situated so as to be put 

 upon the stretch, when the former are in action. 

 By the contractions of these muscles, the orifices 

 of the cavities, or sacs, to which they belong, 

 are opened, and the serrated edges applied ac- 

 curately to the surfaces with which the feet are 

 in contact. Sir Everard Home, in his account 

 of this structure, compares it to the sucking disk 



