182 BLUEFIELDS. 



hinder parts have the same whiteness as the head on 

 the previous day ; for there seems always to be the 

 difference of a day in the sloughing of the fore and 

 hind parts. When the cuticle, however, is manifestly 

 detached, it is not thrown off at once, but hangs 

 around the Lizard like a ragged garment, for several 

 days ; apparently to its no small annoyance. 



The reproduction of the tail in Lizards, after it 

 has been accidentally lost, is a very curious phe- 

 nomenon, which seems not to have been observed 

 with sufficient precision. In this species it takes 

 place with great rapidity. The facility with which 

 the tail separates has been already alluded to : it is 

 said that the animal will frequently cast off this 

 member spontaneously in its contortions on being 

 put alive into spirits ; and that the contraction of the 

 tail into a globular form has given occasion to the 

 supposition that a distinct species existed, called the 

 Turnip-tailed Gecko {Thecadactylus rapicauda) ; 

 this, however, I have not seen. 



One day, at Grand Vale, I observed, on a gate, a 

 Gecko with a new tail, not more than an inch and a 

 half in length, abruptly tapered. The animal had a 

 singular appearance, the tail being of a bluish grey 

 hue, marked with longitudinal black stripes ; it had 

 a silky gloss, but was closely covered with minute 

 transverse wrinkles. (The ordinary length of the tail 

 when perfect is about five inches.) 



About the middle of September, I caught in a 

 noose one which I had deprived of its tail a few days 

 before in attempting to secure it. The separation 

 had taken place about half an inch behind the vent. 



