546 



Observations on a few Species of Geckos. 



[No. 5, 



also larger. ; Toes five, of nearly equal size, furnished with powerful 

 suckers. Head large : pupil of the eye with powerful contracting powers : 

 the eye is large and staring. Inside of the mouth red. Very vicious and 

 bites with great ferocity : inhabits Burmah : my specimens are all from 

 Moulmein. Found in houses, trees, &c, and called by the Burmese 

 Touchtay, \_Platydactylus verus of authors]. The Burmese name is in 

 imitation of its call, which is five or six times repeated. 



2. Gecko Verreauxi, n. s., Tytler ; a splendid large new species found 

 on the main island of the Andamans, as also on the smaller. In size it 

 not only equals the last named species, but is frequently larger, measuring 

 from 13 to 14 inches in length. I have named it after my esteemed 

 friend M. Jules Verreaux of Paris, the great and well known naturalist. 

 The Gecko Verreauxi is of a dark brown colour above and lighter be- 

 neath : those sent to me from Mount Harriet have little or no marking, 

 but those from Aberdeen have dark markings on the back, and some- 

 times circles on the tail. The body is covered with tubercles, and there are 

 six rows of prickles or spines on the tail ; which latter is flat sided. A 

 deep grove runs down the centre of the tail, which is as long as the body. 

 There are two rows of these spines on the top and two on either side 

 of the tail. The animal, in colour, is so like the bark of an old tree or 

 dried wood, and so changes its brown hue to suit the colour of 

 the tree it may be on,! that it is a matter of the greatest difficulty 

 to find it. (The animal has a very formidable and forbidding look, 

 and the natives greatly dread it, so that it is difficult to obtainj 

 The colour of the irides is a metallic yellowish green, full of veins ; 

 the eyes are large and full. Each foot has five large toes with powerful 

 claws and large suckers. The call of this species is a loud ' Tuk Tuk 

 Tuk? five or six times repeated. 



3. Gecko tigris (Tytler). I think this is the Puellula ruhida of 

 Blyth, for the character which induced him to give this generic name to 

 a gecko he received from the Andamans, is perceptible in all my living 

 specimens ; I have called it tigris from its fierce disposition. In length 

 it is from 5 to 6 inches : general colour brown with numerous dark 

 markings, and rings round the tail : the markings are in the shape of 

 lines. The tail is longer than the body, and when the animal is moving^ 

 the tail is held up horizontally and stiff, with a curl at the tip : the back 

 is rough with tubercles, as also is the tail. The under surface is fleshy and 

 smooth and of a purple hue. The upper eyelid with a yellow line on it; 



