Reptiles. 



8855 



fly-catching habits, as they stick to the sides of a lamp, there is 

 much similarity between this Gecko and the little Papehoo or wall 

 lizard of China ; but this is decidedly a larger and more active animal, 

 and often engages in a struggle with insects of very large size. I once 

 watched a Gecko seize a Sphinx moth, but the insect, after a serious 

 struggle, succeeded in breaking loose from it, not, however, without 

 having been too seriously injured to live. I was assured by a medical 

 friend at Amoy that he saw in bis verandah there a large spider (a 

 species of Mygale), quietly sucking the body of a papehoo. I suspect 

 it would take a very large spider to pay the same respects to a For- 

 mosan Gecko. I have found the eggs of this Gecko in holes in walls 

 or among mortar rubbish. They usually lie several together, are 

 round, and do not seem to me to offer any appearance other than 

 those of ordinary lizards. The young, when first hatched, keep much 

 to themselves under stones in dark cellars, where they live until they 

 attain two-thirds the size of the adults. At this stage they begin to 

 show out in conspicuous places, but always evince alarm at the 

 approach of their older brethren, — for what reason I could not make 

 out. A little fellow that lived behind some small boxes on my table, 

 and used to sally out to catch the smaller insects attracted by the lamp- 

 light, would always scurry away as soon as he spied one of the larger 

 tenants of the roof-top gliding down with hurried strides. It may have 

 been puerile modesty, or perhaps he was aware that his precocity had 

 induced him to affect a field to which he had no right in the presence 

 of his seniors. 



The Chinese colonists show a respect for these animals, and will 

 not suffer them to be molested on the walls of their houses. They 

 relate a legend as the cause of this veneration. Many years since 

 some rebels had taken possession of the Fungshan Hien (the southern- 

 most district of the Chinese territory in Formosa), and were threatening 

 the capital itself, when the emperor sent across from China a cele- 

 brated general to quell the insurgents. This valiant warrior had made 

 several onslaughts on the enemy, which only resulted in defeat and 

 the decimation of his army. He sat one evening desponding gloomily, 

 when suddenly his attention was drawn to something chuckling over 

 his head. He looked up and spied a Gecko, which, to his astonish- 

 ment, spoke out and asked him the cause of his despondency. The 

 warrior, thinking that perhaps some good spirit was embodied in the 

 little creature, unbosomed his grief to it. The lizard replied that by 

 means of certain secretions in its body it could speedily poison the 

 supplies of the enemies troops, and thus reduce their strength to a 



