GECKO LOBATUS. 49 



Spec. Char. — Body smooth, reddish grey, spotted with 

 brown ; scales and tubercles very small ; toes free ; 

 tail round. 



Stcllio HassL'lquistii 3 Sokn. Tliecodactylus lobatus; Cuv. Gecko ascolobatos ■ 

 Merrem. Gecko lobatus ; Geoffr. llept. Egypt, t. 3. f. 5. 



The Gecko lobatus, which several writers have described under 

 the name of Lacerta Gecko, and of L. Hazelquistli, and which 

 Baron Cuvier has figured under the title of Gecko ties Maisons, 

 or House Gecko, is a native of Egypt, and has long been celebrated 

 for the noxious fluid which it secretes. It is a small species, 

 measuring about five inches in length, from the point of the 

 muzzle to the extremity of the tail. The general colour is a very 

 pale reddish grey, spotted with brown. On the upper part of the 

 body there are generally observed three longitudinal rows of broad 

 round dots, one of which occupies the median line of the back ; 

 the two others are placed upon the sides. The plates which sur- 

 round the margin of the jaws and mouth are of a bright yellowish 

 green colour. The head is broad, somewhat triangular, much 

 swelled out across the ears, depressed, and covered on its upper 

 surface with small rounded prominent scales. The muzzle is 

 taper ; the eyes are very large and nocturnal ; the tongue is thick, 

 flat, and bifid at its tip, but not extensile, and the external opening 

 of the ear is very apparent ; the mouth is wide, and the jaws are 

 furnished with a row of very small teeth. The body is long, 

 slender, somewhat depressed, and covered with very minute round 

 verrucose scales, irregularly disposed upon the head, the back, and 

 the legs, but forming on the tail regular transverse rings. The 

 tail is long and cylindrical, tapering, and equal in length to the 

 rest of the body. The legs are rather long, and the feet have each 

 five nearly equal toes ; at the extremity of each toe is a circular 

 expansion, which is divided in the middle to receive a small 

 crooked claw. All the toes are covered on their inferior surface 

 with small transverse imbricated scales, concealing glandular 

 pores, from which exhudes a very poisonous fluid. 



