DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



which when inflated, especially at the pairing 

 season, shows the most vivid colours, and is as 

 large as a cherry in the a. bullaris. These lizards 

 change their colour in the same way as the cha- 

 maeleon, and when two males meet they are said 

 to fight with great fury. 



M. Cuvier has made several important divisions 

 in the very numerous genus of the geckos, which 

 comes next. They inhabit the warm regions of 

 both continents, and are allied to the anolis in 

 this respect, that they have the same striated 

 swelling under their toes, but with this remark- 

 able difference, that it occupies their whole 

 length, and enables them to \valk with still more 

 facility on ceilings; they differ also from the 

 anolis by the flattened and elongated shape of 

 their body, which is more like that of the lizards. 

 They have a kind of heavy and crawling walk ; 

 their eyes are large, and are affected by light in 

 the same way as are the eyes of cats, and their 

 claws are also retractile like theirs. There are 

 forty-six species of geckos in the collection. The 

 two most commonly found in the southern coun- 

 tries of Europe, and which are considered as 

 venomous in a high degree, are the lacerta mau- 

 ritanica and the I. gecko. We are assured that 

 the skin becomes red from a mere contact with 

 them, and that on this account the second spe- 



