THE GECKO 329 



the opening of their jaws. During the day time they generally re- 

 main concealed in some dark crevice or chink, but towards 

 evening they may be seen running along the 

 steepest walls with marvellous rapidity, in 

 keen pursuit of their prey, frequently stand- 

 ing still, nodding wdth their head, and utter- 

 ing shrill tones, most likely by smacking 

 their tongue against the palate. Their flat- 

 tened flexible body seems to mould itself into 

 the hollows, in which they often remain 

 motionless for hours, and their generally 

 dull colour harmonizes so well with their 

 resting-places, as to render them hardly dis- 

 tinguishable, a circumstance which answers 

 the double purpose of masking their presence from the prey for 

 which they lie in wait, and from the enemies that might be 

 inclined to feast upon them. Among these, some of the smaller 

 birds of prey — hawks and owls — are the most conspicuous, 

 not to mention man, the arch-persecutor of almost every animal 

 large enough to attract his notice. 



How comes it that these nocturnal lizards, seemingly in de- 

 fiance of the laws of gravitation, are thus able to adhere to 

 ceilings or any other overhanging surfaces? An inspection of 

 the soles of their broad feet will soon solve the enigma, for all 

 their toes are considerably dilated on their margins, and divided 

 beneath into a number of transverse lamellae, parallel to each 

 other, and generally without any longitudinal furrow. From 

 these a fluid exudes which serves to attach the animal to the 

 surface. They are also generally provided with sharp and 

 crooked claws, retractile and movable, like those of a cat, and 

 which render them good service in climbing the trees. 



In spite of their harmless nature, the Greckoes, their real 

 utility being forgotten over imaginary grievances, nowhere 

 enjoy a good reputation, probably in consequence of their 

 ugliness and the wild expression of their large eyes. They are 

 accused of tainting with a virulent secretion every object they 

 touch, and of provoking an eruption on the skin merely by 

 running over it — a popular prejudice which naturally causes 

 many a poor inoffensive Grecko's death. They abound all over 

 the torrid zone, even in the remote islands of the Pacific, such as 



