EAST AFRICAN LIZARDS. 



133 



Hemidactylus mabouia (Gray). 

 Blgr. Cat. Liz. i. 1885, p. 122. 



This is undoubtedly the conimonest of the East African Geckos. 

 Seventy-one specimens were collected. In British East at Voi ; 

 in German East at Tsame, Mkomasi, Kerogvve, Lukigina, 

 Makindu, Amani, Kongwa, Morogoro, J3ar-es-Sa]aam, and J)u- 

 tiiumi ; in Portuguese East at Lunibo and Delagoa Bay. It is 

 commonly found in houses and out-buildings, but is almost as 

 common on trees. 



The coloration is very variable. Those taken in the burnt-out 

 interior of trees were practically black, others hiding in crevices 

 of Pa.upau-trees were a pale straw-colour ; some of the very 

 largest were found on trees at Liddgura and Makindu, where 

 their darkly barred and mottled skins by accentuating the small 

 tubercles led me to suppose them to be a distinct species. Those 

 found in houses, particularly whei-e the walls were whitewashed, 

 were pale flesh-coloiu' or almost transparent. The change of 

 colour may also be influenced by their feelings apparently, for on 

 one occasion I witnessed two of them fighting— the victor was 

 pale grey and the pursued brown-black. 



The largest specimens were taken at Morogoro. Both male 

 and female measured 7| inches (86-102 mm.). It was curious 

 that both these large specimens should be in the same propor- 

 tions of head and body to tail, for the tail of the male was a 

 reproduced one, while that of the female was intact. 



An extraordinary percentage of the Morogoro speciniens had 

 regenerated tails, no fewer than twenty out of the thirty-one 

 collected. It occurred more frequently in males than in females, 

 and I attributed this to the combats that take place, which are 

 presumably amongst the males. In an outhouse I saw a speci- 

 men with bifid tail, but did not succeed in catching it. At 

 Kerogwe I caught seventeen specimens without one dropping its 

 tail; eleven of these had their original tails, five males and one 

 female had secondary growths. I put one of these Geckos into a 

 vivarium with an Underlined Sand-Snake {P. suhtceniaUis^\ the 

 rapidity with which the snake ga ve chase was almost incredible ; 

 the weather being hot, the snake darted and doubled about the 

 case. The Gecko dropped its tail, but the snake, undeceived by 

 the wriggling of the severed tail, shortly after seized the Gecko, 

 and when the latter became limp from the poison — swallowed it. 



The eggs of this species are almost globular except for a 

 flattening at the point of attachment; they are soft and sticky 

 when laid, and thus adhere to the bai'k, in whose crevices or 

 beneath which they are deposited. Two are produced at a time ; 

 in diameter they are from 10 to 12 mm. ; the shell soon hardens 

 and becomes very brittle, so that it is difiicult to detach them 

 from the bark witliout breaking them ; the suiface of the shells 

 is finely granulate and the colour is opaque or bluish-white. 

 Eggs were taken on July 29th at Makindu, on March 9th and 



