LIZARDS. 



407 



Platydactylus mauritanicus is found in the countries bordering the Mediterranean 

 and is known in the south of France as the tarente. It is never found in damp or 

 shaded localities, but delights in the sunshine, being found about ruins and old walls. 

 The colder portions of the year it spends in an inert condition, hid away in some 

 crevice, or under the tile of an old house, ready to creep out on the first warm days 

 of spring. It is a perfectly hai-mless animal. Of its cry nothing is known. 



Fig. 236. — Platydactylus mauritanicus, tarente. 



Sph(Brodactylus notatus, one of the smallest American lizards, measuring about 

 two inches in length, is the only gecko in the United States, though there are three 

 or four in Mexico and Lower California. Each of the toes is terminated by a small 

 rounded disk, by means of which, the animal can wander over the perpendicular faces 

 of rocks. The reptile is very rare in collections, tliough it has been several times taken 

 in Florida and Cuba. While the scales on the back and sides are large and keeled, 

 those of the belly are smooth, small, and hexagonal. 



