THE HABITS OF MALAY REPTILES. 193 
local. One, Z. jerdonianum, seems to be absolutely confined to 
Pulau Tikus in Penang, having never been seen anywhere else. 
Every onein the tropics soon makes the acquaintance of the 
House Geckos, and the habits of these useful little insect killers 
are well known, and have often been described, but it does not 
seem to be generally known that at least eight species belong - 
ing to four genera inhabit our houses. In some houses the com- 
mon one is Gehyra mutilata, a very pale c lored and rather small 
kind, in others the large dark brown Gecko Monarchus takes its 
place, or drives it at all events out of the verandah, which ts evi- 
dently considered the best feeding ground by the house geckos, 
In other houses again quite different ones appear. The Siamese 
Tokay, Gecko verticillatus, a large kind with an exceedingly 
powerful voice, has been recorded from the peninsula, and even 
from Singapore, but this latter locality must be very dubious, 
We have, however, another very Joud voiced one (probably 
G. stentor) in the forests, where it lives in hollow trees, and 
utters a very loud call. 
Besides these house geckos, there are a number of jungle 
geckos, which live in holes in trees or under bark, only appear- 
ing at dusk. A very odd little one, Gonatodes kendalli, lives in 
cracks and holes under large rocks in the Bukit Timah wouds. 
It is dark brown, and has an unusually long tail, which it often 
carries over its back coiled up like a watch spring when it runs. 
SNAKES. 
The ordinary visitor to the tropics is filled with a nervous 
horror of snakes, always expecting to find most deadly kinds in 
the house or to be attacked by thea if he sets foot outside.~- He 
conceives it his duty to slaughter all, even the most harmless 
and useful species, as soon as he sees them. Nor is his opinion 
altered by conversation with Malays, who assure him that even 
the most inoffensive of them are horribly deadly. Malays have 
pulled me back in horror when I was picking up a little Zyphlops, 
a snake about the size of a moderate-sized earth worm, with a 
mouth too small even to nip a portion of one’s skin, assuring 
me that it was a most venomous animal. The visitor, however, 
if of an observant turn of mind, discovers ere long that poison- 
ous snakes are comparatively rare, and that cases of dangerous 
