72 THE REPTILES OF EGYPT. 
form, but its high head and body practically devoid of depression are characters of 
the second group, which, with its coarser skin, entitle it to be placed in it. On the 
other hand, the smaller character of its disks and the presence of nine lamellae on 
the third digit of the fore and hind limb are features of the typical form. At the 
same time, geckos presenting these characters are only met with in Eastern Arabia ; 
but they suggest that, when Central Arabia is opened up to zoological science, further 
modifications will be forthcoming, linking them still more intimately with the geckos 
of Southern Syria and the Sinaitic Peninsula. Mr. Boulenger has already pointed out 
that the Maskat geckos resemble those from Mount Sinai. 
The gecko from Palmyra figured by M. Boutan as P. barroisi recalls the geckos of 
Maskat, of the Sinaitic Peninsula, and of Southern Syria. In the type of P. guttatus, 
Heyden, the body is covered with a meshwork of reddish lines, marked here and there 
with dark brown spots, the interstices of the meshwork enclosing pale blue spots, 
from which the name of the species is derived. In P. barroisi the lines of the mesh- 
work become reduced to pale yellowish brown, enclosing whitish spots, so that it 
conforms to the coloration of P. guttatus. In the Maskat geckos the longitudinal 
and oblique lines of the meshwork have disappeared, and with them the pale spots ; 
but in what remains of the meshwork there are here and there darker spots, as in 
P. guttatus. At the same time, the coloration of the Maskat geckos is almost 
identical with that of some of the members of Phalanx I. (compare figs. I & 4). 
Their high heads, more rounded bodies and tails have led me to place them in the 
position they occupy. 
The geckos from Lower Egypt and of the Plain of Suez have stouter bodies than 
those from Maskat, and in this particular they resemble the geckos of the Sinaitic 
Peninsula. Among the members of this Phalanx found further to the north, at 
Jerusalem, Mount Carmel, and Palmyra, the body becomes even stouter and shorter, 
and in Galilee the shortening is carried still further. The latter (PI. VII. fig. 8) lead 
directly towards the Algerian geckos. Although those from Galilee and from Syria 
generally differ so considerably from the typical P. guttatus, still they present such an 
array of variations that when to them are added those of the geckos from the Sinaitic 
Peninsula, the Plain of Suez, Maskat, and the Nile valley the series is so complete 
that it is impossible to consent to the view propounded by M. Boutan that more 
than one species is represented in Syria. 
In the accompanying table (p. 73) I have recorded the number of lamellae on the 
third digit of the fore and of the hind limb. 
In the first Phalanx 8 — 8 and 9 — 9 lamella? are equally prevalent on the limbs, 
while a fourth of the 24 specimens tabulated have 8 anteriorly and 9 posteriorly. 
In the second Phalanx 9 — 9 is by far the most frequent number on both extremities, 
as they occur in 21 specimens out of 32. Nine is not associated with any other 
number ; but 10 is present in a fourth of the specimens, while 8 is exceptional and 
