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G E C K I D JE. 



longitudinally by a deep furrow on the under side, the 

 anterior part of which can entirely conceal the claw, 

 which is the reason they are called sheath-toed. They 

 generally speaking want claws on the inner toes only; 

 and their tails have small scales both on the upper and 

 the under surfaces. As an instance of this division, 

 we may mention the smooth gecko ( A. perfoliatus), 

 which is found in the West Indian islands, and is 

 there sometimes called the Banana lizard, from its 

 being found lurking in these plants. Its colour is 

 grey mottled with brown ; its scales very small on the 

 upper part, and without any tubercles ; the tail is 

 long, and furnished with circular folds as in many of 

 the other species, but it is very little ; and when once 

 broken off the new one, which grows readily, is very 

 frequently quite different from the original one, and 

 has caused the animal to be described as being more 

 than one species. 



PTYODACTYLI, fan-toed, have the points only of 

 the toes widened by marginal expansions, and these 

 have their under surfaces marked with striae, radiating 

 from a centre like a fan. The middle of each is 

 divided by a longitudinal furrow, in the end of which 

 the claws are placed. There are claws on all the 

 toes, very sharp and crooked. Some have the tail 

 round, and all the toes free, or without any connecting 

 membranes, and these are of course inhabitants of the 

 land only. Others have the tail with margins, and 

 the toes partly webbed, and they are probably, in 

 part at least, aquatic. Of the former, one of the best 

 known species is 



A. lobatus, the house gecko. This species is 

 rather smooth in the covering, having the scales and 

 tubercles both very small. It is of a reddish grey 

 colour, with small spots of brown on the upper part. 

 It is a hideous, or, at all events, an ungainly animal 

 in appearance, and the sound which it utters is a 

 hoarse croaking like that of a frog. It is found 

 chiefly on the south-eastern coast of the Mediter- 

 ranean, and is peculiarly abundant in Syria and 

 Egypt, where it has been long known, and generally 

 disliked. It appears to shun the light of day and 

 the beams of the sun much more than the wall gecko, 

 and the exudation from its feet is far more pestilent than 

 that of that reptile. Indeed, it is not improbable that 

 the greater part of the poisoning quality which has 

 been attributed to the other really belongs to this, and 

 that they have been confounded with each other. 

 The passage of the house gecko over the skin, 

 though its feet produce no laceration, or any me- 

 chanical effect whatever, is attended with very severe 

 pain and inflammation, which extend to other parts 

 besides those over which the creature passes. So 

 much is it dreaded on this account in some countries, 

 that in Cairo it is branded with the name of Abu-burs, 

 " the father of the leprosy." That it can produce the 

 disease which is thus fathered upon it is not at all 

 likely, though it certainly does occasion much pain 

 and inconvenience. It is probable that this is the 

 one alluded to by Solomon, as taking up its abode in 

 the houses of kings, with the same confidence as the 

 coney (the jerboa) makes its holes in the rock. The 

 minor pests of cold countries like ours, which, where 

 the strictest attention is not paid to cleanliness, are apt 

 to visit us on our couches, and invade our slumbers 

 with a more vexatious species of annoyance than that 

 occasioned by more powerful enemies, are bad enough ; 

 and it has been said, that " the man who braves a 

 bomb will yet tremble at a bug." These, however, 



are nothing to such a nightly visiter as the house 

 gecko. It is like Caliban's curse ; it blisters the 

 people all over, and it is as tenacious of its abode at 

 the present day as it was in the reign of king Solo- 

 mon. It is true that, in our common translation, the 

 spider is the creature mentioned as the sure tenant of 

 the royal palace ; but, as the spider does little harm 

 anywhere, though* sometimes accused of it, and 

 usually remains in the middle of her nets, leaving 

 the inhabitants of even the most dingy dwellings in 

 peace, it is more likely that this pestivorous spider- 

 eater was the creature alluded to. There is great 

 difficulty in expelling the house gecko, or even of 

 finding out where it is during the day, but its croaking 

 and its crawling arc equally offensive during the 

 night ; and when it does come into contact, there is 

 nothing but to submit, and let it run across, for any 

 attempt to seize it with the hand is attended with 

 very painful consequences, as, when alarmed, it sheds 

 its poison more copiously than when left alone. 



Nor is the very offensive danger of this loathsome 

 reptile directed against the skin alone, for it prowls 

 about wherever the people deposit their food, and is 

 said to be especially fond of salt meat. It is not the 

 quantity that it eats which is the offensive part of the 

 matter, for its powers of mastication are but limited, 

 but it paddles over everything, leaving the taint of 

 its feet wherever it passes ; so that, unless the people 

 have made certain that no house gecko could pass 

 over any provisions that may have remained in the 

 house during the night, they have no security that 

 those provisions shall not be poisoned ; and thus, 

 whether the fact is so or not, the uncertainty of this 

 species of feeling is equally bad ; because they who 

 live in constant apprehension of any disease, be it 

 what it may, always run a risk of some malady or 

 other arising from their own apprehensions. After 

 all, it is very probable that the ungainly appearance 

 of this animal is the cause of no inconsiderable part 

 of the bad name which it has gotten, because the 

 reports of the mischief arising from it have been 

 chiefly gleaned among a people who are equally 

 remarkable for their ignorance and their superstition. 

 A. fimbriatus, the fringed gecko. This is a 

 specimen of the other section of this sub-genus. It 

 has a produced margin not only to the sides of the 

 tail, but also along the flanks. It is an inhabitant of 

 the island of Madagascar, and is reported to live in 

 trees, making use of the fringed borders of its body, 

 and the partial webs of its feet, as parachutes in leap- 

 ing from branch to branch. There are several others 

 which bear a considerable resemblance to this section 

 in some particulars, but differ in others. One of 

 these is the whip-tailed gecko, which inhabits some 

 parts of the Andes, and is understood to be at least 

 partially aquatic. It is of a black colour, and about 

 a foot in length. 



SPHERIODACTYLI. This sub-genus consists of 

 a small species, which have the points of the toes 

 formed into little palettes or discs, and the claws 

 always retractile, but without the four-shaped plates 

 which characterise the preceding sub-genus. In some 

 instances the palate seems double, by being cleft in 

 the anterior part. They are principally found in the 

 East Indies and southern Africa. 



Others, which are chiefly American species, have 

 the palettes round and undivided. Among them we 

 may mention the spitting banded gecko, which is a 

 small species, prettily marked with transverse bands 



