834 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXIV 



No. XVII.— "SOME OBSERVATIONS ON A COMMON HOUSE- 

 LIZARD {HEMIDACTYLUS FLAVIVIRIDIS, 

 Ruppbll) of INDIA." 



( With a plate.) 



1. Intkoduction. 



The present account embodies certain stray observations on one of the- 

 commonest house-lizards of India. The lizard is a gecko and was described 

 as Hemidactylus coctaci, D. & B., in Boulenger's Volume on "Reptilia and 

 Batrachia " in the " Fauna of British India" series. The correct name of 

 the form however Is Hemidactiilus flaviviridis, Ruppell. (Nene Wirbelth, 

 1837, p. 18, pi. vi., fig. 6.) 



In the Punjab it is the commonest lizard that one finds in the houses, 

 though a few specimens of Hemidactylus per sicus, And., are also found from 

 time to time. It is the type of Lacertilia used for dissection by the B. Sc. 

 classes of the Punjab University, hence the importance of knowing all one 

 can about its habits. 



I am under a deep debt of gratitude to my former Professor Lt.-Col. 

 J. Stephenson, D.Sc, I.M.S., Professor of Zoology, and Principal, Govern- 

 ment College, Lahore, for the kind interest he always takes in my work, for 

 getting me the necessary literature and for all other facilities. I am also 

 highly obliged to Dr. N. Annandale, D.Sc, Director, Zoological Survey of 

 India, for the correct identification of the lizard, and for his ever ready help 

 ungrudgingly given at all times. 



2. Seasonal Occurrence. 



In the summer (March to November) the lizard is found in the houses in 

 very large numbers, moving on the walls, and on the ceilings, but with the 

 approach of winter the lizards retire to holes in the ceilings, or any other 

 hiding place, where they hibernate,, coming out of their retreats about the 

 beginning of March. Throughout the winter one never sees any of these 

 lizards, o/ie that the present author found in the month of December in 

 a crevice in the roof of a hucha house at Ferozpore, was found sitting quietly, 

 it did not at all move even on teasing ; the breathing was very slow, in 

 short the vital activities were at a very low ebb, owing to the severe cold 

 weather. 



3. Measurements. 



The m.ale is much smaller than the female, and is much more active and 

 agile, in build also it is much slighter, and can be easily distinguished even 

 from a distance. The exact measurements of a male and a female specimen 

 are as follows : — 



Length 



Length of head . . 

 Breadth of head . . 

 Length of body . . 

 Length of tail 

 Breadth of tail at base 

 Length of fore-limb 

 Length of hind-limb 



4. Colour and the Phenomena of Colour-change. 

 Boulenger in the " Fauna " (p. 92) describes the colour as follows : — 

 '•' Grey above, uniform with indistinct darker markings ; lower surface 



