148 CLASS REPTILIA. 



is renewed sometimes in a very swelled state, and in 

 the form of a small radish. Such accidental mon- 

 strosities have given rise to the appellation of G. 

 rapicauda.* 



The fourth division of Geckos, which I shall call 



PxYO-DACTYLUSjt 



♦• 

 Has the ends of the toes only dilated into plates, 

 the under part of which is striated like a fan. The 

 middle of the plate is cleft, and the claw placed in 

 the fissure. All the toes have claws very much 

 crooked. 



Some have the toes free, and the tail round. 



The House Gecko. (Lac. Gecko, Hasselquist.) 

 Gecko Lobatus, GeofFr. Kept. Egypt, III. 5. 

 Stellio Hasselquistii, Schneid. 



Smooth, reddish-grey, picked out with brown ; the 

 scales and tubercles are very small. This species is 

 common in the houses of the different countries 

 which border on the Mediterranean, to the south 

 and east. At Cairo it is named Abou Burs, (Father 

 of the Leprosy,') because they pretend that it com- 

 municates this malady by poisoning with its feet the 

 provisions, especially those which are salted, of which 

 it is very fond. When it walks on the skin, it pro- 



* The Gecko Squatydus Herm. should belong to this division, if it be 

 not the same with the Lcbvis. The Gecko of Surinam, Daud., is only a 

 younger and better coloured individual of Lcsvis. 

 f From 7r7uov, a fenn. 



