8854 



Reptiles. 



other signs of life had ceased. The stomach contained bits of Algae 

 in small quantity; but the small gut was choked with bits of black 

 stone and shell mixed with Algae. 



6. Gecko Svvinhonis, Gunther. On the plaster- washed side of my 

 bedroom, close to the angle of the roof, every evening when the lamp 

 was placed on the table below, four little musical lizards used to make 

 their appearance and watch patiently for insects attracted by the light. 

 A Sphinx or a beetle buzzing into the room would put them into great 

 excitement, and they would run with celerity from one part of the wall 

 to the other after the deluded insect, as it fluttered in vain, buffeting 

 its head up and down the wall. Two or three would run after the same 

 insect, but as soon as one had succeeded in securing it the rest would 

 prudently draw aloof. In running over the perpendicular face of the 

 w T all they keep so close and their movements are made so quickly, with 

 one leg in advance of the other, that they have the appearance, at a 

 distance, of gliding rather than running. The tail is somewhat writhed 

 as the body is jerked along, and much so when the animal is alarmed 

 and doing its utmost to escape ; but its progress even then is in short 

 runs, stopping at intervals and raising the head to look about it. If a 

 fly perch on the wall it cautiously approaches to within a short distance, 

 then suddenly darts forwards, and with its quickly protruded glutinous 

 tongue fixes it. Apart from watching its curious manoeuvres after its 

 insect food, the attention of the most listless would be attracted by the 

 singular series of loud notes these creatures utter at all hours of the 

 day and night, more especially during cloudy and rainy weather. These 

 notes resemble the syllables " chuck-chuck " several times repeated, 

 and, from their more frequent occurrence during July and August, are, 

 I think, the call-notes of the male to the female. During the greater 

 part of the day the little creature lies quiescent in some cranny among 

 the beams of the roof or in the wall of the house, where, however, it is 

 ever watchful for the incautious fly that approaches its den, upon which 

 it darts forth with but little notice. But it is by no means confined 

 to the habitations of men : every old wall aud almost every tree pos- 

 sesses a tenant or two of this species. It is excessively lively, and 

 even when found quietly ensconced in a hole generally manages to 

 escape, its glittering little eyes (black, with yellow-ochre iris) appearing 

 to know no sleep ; and an attempt to capture the runaway seldom 

 results in more than the seizure of an animated tail, wrenched 

 off" with a jerk by the little fellow as it slips away, without loss of 

 blood. The younger individuals are much darker than the larger 

 and older animals, which are sometimes almost albinos. In ordinary 



