EAST AFRICAN LIZARDS. 939 



hihev would certninly Imve Idllerl the gecko, which already had 

 a largo black field-cricket in its stomach. " (Kilosa, 12. iv. 22.) 



A spider, moth, and acridian wer6 in the stomachs of Mombasa 

 and Frere Town specimens. It is strange th.at some people still 

 kill these useful little lizards on mere grounds of dislike. 



They do not appear to have many enemies. I caught a 

 Spotted Wood -Snake (/', semivariegaius) in the act of swallowing 

 one in the fowl-house, and tlie gecko had not dropped its tail. 

 A month later I caught another Spotted Wood-Snake, and when 

 placed in the vivarium it disgorged a bolus of one of these geckos 

 which also had its tail intact. One was found in the stomach of 

 a Monitor {V. niloticus). _ . 



When large numbers of these geckos live in a house it is quite 

 a rernark!i.l)[e sight to see them leaving it at sutiset to go fornging ; 

 tliey descend the walls from the eaves, and should there be shrubs 

 or tree-trunks within a foot or so, they reach them by a leap. 

 The natives put their own interpretation on these nocturnal 

 expeditions however, and informed me it was evidence of the 

 croiituros' shrewdness, as they feared to remain in the house 

 after dark lest a careless person should set it on lire! 



According to Koch's Vocabulary the natives say this lizard 

 dislikes m.an, .and reqiiests that God will destroy him in order 

 that the gecko may not be disturbed whilst eating sand. 



IIemidactylus squamulatus Torn. 

 Torn. Die Kriechtiere D. O. A. 1897. 



One male and three females were collected at Kilosa on open 

 gr.ass-free ground after dark; two were seen by the light of a 

 lantern as I was returning home, and the third was about nine 

 inches aw.ay from a giant field-cricket which was shrilling in a 

 most deafening numjier. I wondered if the gecko was dazed by 

 the noise as it mode no attempt to escape when .approached. 

 ^ Male me.asured 45 mm.4-r, the Inrgest female measured 

 4| inches (f)7-f 40) and had two enlarged ovules in its ovary over 

 2 mm. in diameter (13. vii. 21). 



The colour in life w.is p.ale reddish brown above with an 

 irregular network of brown lines on the body, .and less distinctly 

 on tlie tail. The posterior end of the enlarged tubercles was 

 cream-coloured, very noticeable on .flanks. A remnant of an 

 eye-streak is to be found in a small dot in front of eye and a 

 faint streak behind. Another specimen was dark nut-brown. 



IIemidactylus citernh Blgr. 



Blgr. Ann. Mus. Gen. (3) v. 1912, p. 329. 



Six specimens from Mbala, Lukole, Kidenge, and Itetide, where 

 they were taken beneath stones on rock-strewn hillsides or, in a 

 couple of instances, beneath logs. These records extend our 

 knowledge of the southerly distribution of this Somali species 

 -considerably. • : , • 



