THE COASTS OF SICILY. 15 



mal which is somewhat similar to a lizard, but whose 

 flat body, short tail, and greyish skin covered with 

 tubercles, give it a very repulsive appearance. 



Like the majority of its congeners, this Gecko, 

 which is vulgarly known as the Terrentola, is 

 the terror of the inhabitants of the country, who 

 regard it as very venomous, and watch with horror 

 the rapidity with which it runs along the smoothest 

 walls, on which its claws and the scales that cover 

 its toes enable it easily to find points of support. 

 Nothing, however, that we heard in regard to this 

 animal can compare with the terrific reports that 

 are made of it by some travellers in the East, and at 

 the Cape of Good Hope. There the Geckos are 

 regarded as accursed beings, disseminating death 

 around them, sometimes causing their victims, by a 

 mere touch, to perish in a few hours, and sometimes 

 giving rise to an incurable leprosy by a slight bite. 



It is not easy to determine how much truth there 

 is in these evident exaggerations ; but when we re- 

 member the absurd stories that are commonly circu- 

 lated and believed in our country districts concerning 

 the Salamander and the timid Newt, one is led to 

 think that the Gecko may be a perfectly innocent 

 animal, and that its nocturnal habits may have 

 been the principal means of rendering it an object 

 of terror. 



Whilst M. Blanchard was carrying on an active 

 war against these inhabitants of the land and air, 

 M. Milne Edwards and myself were directing all our 

 efforts to the sea ; and to our various means of inves- 

 tigation we were now going to add another, which 



