408 



LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



The genus Semidactylus is very generally distributed through the warmer regions 

 of the globe, and is characterized by ha^■ing the dilated toes armed beneath by two 

 series of transverse imbricate 2jlates, and the trunk and tail without lateral cutaneous 

 appendages. H. trihedrus has the back granulated with numerous trihedral tubercles, 

 some of which equal the opening of the ear in size. The femoral pores do not cross 

 the pre-anal region. This animal, which reaches a length of seven inches, inhabits the 

 coast of Malabar, avoiding the habitations of man, only living in rocks and trees. Of 

 much different habits is the semi-domesticated H. macidatus, the most common gecko 

 in India, and extending its geographical range into China, the Philippine Islands, and 



Fig. 236. — HemidacryliLs vcrrucidatus, gecko. 



Mauritius. IT. frcp,natus, the cheecha of Ceylon, inhabiting also India and possibly 

 south Africa and Polynesia, is a most interesting little animal. But four or five inches 

 in length, it makes its appearance soon after sunset, about the walls of the Indian 

 dwellings, in search of flies or other small insects. If some attention be shown it, 

 however, it will present itself every evening at the accustomed place, where it expects 

 rice or morsels of bread, soon becoming very tame. The female lays three or four 

 eggs in a crevice of some old wall, or ])ossibly in a hollow tree. JI. vemiculatus 

 inhabits the shores of the Mediterranean, where it is often found in cellai-s. It is of 

 a reddish-gray color, with back and tail covered with conical tubercles. 



To the collector in the island of Jamaica, the croaking-lizard, Thecadactylua 



