76 BOMBAY NATURAT HISTORY SOCTETY. 
according to the same authority (Dr. Shortt), the Bengal Gecko 
(Hemidactylus cocteaut, D. et B.), is dreaded, more especially the 
larger kinds found about rocks and trees. Then again some gross 
calumniator has dared to take away the character of our old friend 
the chameleon (Chameleo vulgaris, Lin.), the Sasumba of Cutch, and 
Guhira Sarad of the Deccan. Any one who has watched the child- 
like and bland expression of the pet chameleon, whose life was made so 
happy in these rooms by Mr. Phipson’s tender care, will find it hard 
to believe that he is a deadly monster, whose bite is instant death. 
Nevertheless, he has not been allowed to escape the stigma of being 
called a bis cobra. According to Dr. Fairbank, he is the bis cobra 
of Guzerat, and Dr. Shortt relates a story showing the extreme 
dread in which he is held in Madras: ‘*When Zillah Surgeon of 
Chingleput,” he writes, “ [ remember on one occasion a native came 
running to my house: he was almost breathless, streaming with cold 
perspiration, looking pale, skin cold, pulse small, holding the thumb 
of his left hand in his right, and complaining of being bitten by a 
chameleon on the tip of his left thumb, and requesting with tears 
in his eyes that I would do something to save his life. Nothing 
that I could say convinced him that the chameleon was harmless and 
the bite not poisonous, but to satisfy the poor fellow I applied some 
liquor ammonia to the part said to be bitten, where there was a 
slight abrasion of the skin, and gave him a little brandy and water 
to drink. He sat down for a time in my verandah, and then went 
away apparently quite well. ‘That the man was in a great fright 
about his life there was no doubt from the state of his pulse, skin, 
and general appearance, when he presented himself to me.’ It is 
needless to state that all the lizards mentioned above are perfectly 
harmless. The Skinks, the ground lizards, the sand-fish lizards and 
the pretty little Dragons, or flying lizards, have hitherto, it appears, 
escaped the unneviable notoriety of being called bis cobras, So also 
has the familiar Bloodsucker (Calotes versicolor, Dana). ‘This is odd, 
as in his scarlet war paint the Bloodsucker is one of the most 
formidable looking lizards we have. That very uncanny Australian 
lizard, the Moloch, of which we have a good specimen here, is 
another species which if found in this country would hardly escape 
being called the true bis cobra. [havelittle doubt, however, that some 
day, when the most credulous have begun to believe in the innocence 
of monitors, geckos and chameleons, all the lizards mentioned above 
will have their turn, They offer at least a wide field for the selec- 
