GECKOS. 



in 



creatures, that in Egypt the lobe-footed, or fan-footed species is commonly termed 

 abou-burs, or father of leprosy. 



Geckos, of which there are some two hundred and eighty species, distributed 

 over all the warmer parts of the globe, although more numerous in the Indian and 

 Australian regions than elsewhere, are for the most part small arid plumply-built 

 nocturnal lizards, characterised by their depressed form and dust-like coloration. 

 The rather long and more or less flattened head is broad and triangular in shape ; 

 the large eyes are characterised by the absence of movable lids, and by the pupil 

 being, except in a few diurnal forms, vertical ; while the aperture of the ears is 

 likewise in the form of an upright slit. Externally, the head is covered with minute 

 granules, or small scales, and the body is devoid of a bony armour, and in most 

 cases covered above with granules, and beneath with small overlapping scales. If 

 we add to the above features that the tongue is either smooth or covered with 

 villous papillae, and is short or 

 moderate in length, and not 

 sheathed at the base, and that 

 the bodies of the vertebras articu- 

 late together by means of cup- 

 shaped surfaces at both their 

 extremities, we shall have said 

 sufficient to distinguish the 

 geckos from all other members 

 of the suborder. As regards 

 their other external characters, 

 the neck is very short and thick, 

 the body, although rounded, 

 markedly depressed, and the 

 tail, which is generally remark- 

 ably brittle, usually thick and 

 of moderate length, with its 

 basal portion either cylindrical 



or laterally compressed, although it may be leaf -like, or even rudimental. In some 

 cases the tail is known to be prehensile, and it is not improbable that it is 

 frequently endowed with this power. The limbs are generally remarkable for 

 their shortness, and are always provided with five toes each, the tips or sides of 

 which may be more or less dilated. In those species inhabiting desert regions, the 

 toes are of normal form, being often nearly cylindrical, and keeled on their lower 

 surfaces ; but in the great majority of the members of the family, they are expanded 

 either throughout their length or partially into adhesive discs, of which the under 

 surface is formed by a series of movable symmetrical plates of variable form, by 

 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 ; while in other, instances the toes may be united by 

 webs, which are not, however, for the purpose of swimming, all the geckos being 

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

 summit of the jaw (pleurodont). 



LOBE-FOOTED GECKO. 



