74 
THE REPTILES OF EGTPT. 
Upper Labials. 
Lower Labials. 
Number of 
Labials. 
First Phalanx, 
Second Phalanx, 
Var. oudrii, 
Var. rogazzi. 
First Phalanx, 
Second Phalanx, 
Var. oudrii, 
Var. ragazzi, 
specimens. 
specimens. 
specimens. 
specimens. 
specimens. 
specimens. 
specimens. 
specimens. 
10 
1 
3 
3 
11 
3 
3 
2 
8 
10 
2 
12 
7 
15 
2 
1 
11 
11 
3 
13 
12 
12 
3 
6 
7 
1 
14 
3 
1 
2 
1 
2 
15 
1 
1 
1 
This genus is represented in Sind, Arabia, Northern Syria (Aleppo), southwards 
through Palestine, the Sinaitic Peninsula, and the valley of the Nile to Nubia, and to 
the south-east in Eritrea and Shoa, and to the west in Algeria. 
P. hasselquistii is found under the most diverse physical and climatic conditions, a 
circumstance to be kept in mind in view of the remarkable variations to which it is 
subject. At Aleppo, 1143 feet above the sea, the most northerly point in its distribu- 
tion, or nearly so, snow falls almost every year, although it lies only on the higher 
mountains ; but at Jerusalem (2550 feet), where this gecko is present, snow and frost 
are not uncommon, and the whole country at that elevation may be under snow for a 
short time 1 . Similar conditions also prevail, in winter, in the higher parts of the 
Tell of Algeria, where this gecko is also found. 
P. hasselquistii likewise frequents the subtropical basin of Lake Huleh, the imme- 
diate surroundings of which are little more than a swamp, in which buffaloes wallow, 
while the surrounding slopes are extremely fertile. Sixteen years ago, on my way 
from Khan Jubb Yusef to the beautiful spring of Mellaha, near Lake Huleh, I 
captured among some rocks the gecko (fig. 8) represented on Plate VII. It is also 
found at Jerash (1757 feet), on the opposite side of the Jordan, a district watered by 
the Jabbok, rich in oleanders, and with hills wooded with pines and oaks. It is also 
present on the green, well-watered slopes of Mount Carmel, a name that signifies 
orchard. I likewise met with it among the ruins of Capernaum, on the fertile shores of 
Lake Tiberias, 682 feet below the sea-level, while further to the south it has been 
obtained from the arid surroundings of the Dead Sea and from the slopes of Sinai. 
In Egypt it is found not only in the desert, but in houses on the alluvium, and in the 
' Mr. Boulenger has recorded the presence of the gecko (Edura nivaria on the heights of the Drakensberg 
range, N.W. Natal, and also apparently enjoying life amid the ice and snow (Proc. Zool. Sou. 1894, p. 608). 
