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864 .j Od&ervatims on a few Species of Geckos. 539 



In collecting lizards, I always send natives out with wide mouthed 

 bottles to put them into when caught, but this, simple as it appears, 

 requires a little management and caution, for should a cork be put into 

 the bottle, the animal is apt to die from suffocation, and putting too many 

 in a bottle, causes perhaps the destruction of the whole ; besides which, 

 it often occurs, that a lizard may adhere to the side of the bottle, and 

 shew great disinclination to quit it ; the violent shaking then resorted 

 to, to oblige it to do so, frequently causes the animal to die in a few 

 days from its injuries it suffers. I find it is also a bad plan, to allow 

 'an injured gecko to be with others, for the skin being once rubbed off, 

 the surface remains raw and tender for some considerable time ; and the 

 result too frequently is, that small ants are attracted, who will completely 

 destroy a box of geckos in a night, by adhering to every one they can 

 get hold of, and stinging it to death. This has happened to me on 

 several occasions, and caution is required to guard against it, for the 

 gecko, though an insect-destroyer, is a very timid animal, and rapidly 

 flees from the attacks of insects. 



(During the day, geckoid lizards are found under stones or in boxes, 

 and other suitable localities, but at night, a lamp near a wall will al- 

 ways attract them, whilst the insects fluttering )about will always in- 

 duce them to remain about the spot. Many of my most interesting 

 specimens have been obtained in this manner. On such occasions, it 

 it is not unusual to observe, the interesting, though at the same time, 

 somewhat cruel habit of the larger sized geckos, destroying the small- ( 

 er ones ; and it almost invariably occurs, that if a large gecko is gently 

 driven towards a small one, whilst on a wall, he almost immediately 

 seizes the other, and a scuffle ensues, which ends either in the total 

 destruction of the smaller one, or at all events the loss of his tail. 

 Nature appears to have provided against this act of cannibalism 

 amongst them, for the tail is easily detached, and although it be- 

 comes the trophy of the larger animal, its loss frequently enables the 

 smaller one to escape with his life. The tail when detached, from a 

 most sluggish appendage, becomes a very lively member, and owing to 

 a powerful muscular action, wriggles about for a very considerable 

 time. In about three weeks the tail is renewed on the tail-less animal. 

 Prom the readiness with which the tail is detached, it almost appears 

 that its rejection is voluntary, and resorted to to aid its possessor in 

 escaping from imminent danger ; but this can hardly be the case, for 



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