EAST AFRICAN LIZARDS. 



137 



Kerogwe and Handeni were lost in transit. Seen at Mombasa 

 Island, Zanzibar, Mombo, Palms, ISTgeri Ngeri. Collected at 

 Kerogwe, Handeni, Morogoro, and Dar-es-Salaam. 



A purely arboreal Gecko living on tree-trunks ; the following 

 notes were made at various localities : — 



Zanzibar (30. xii. 14). Was disappointed in not securing a 

 Gecko, whose body was bark-colour but whose head was like a 

 patch of yellow lichen. 



Randeni (26. vi. 16). Caught sight of a small grey Gecko with 

 a yellow head similar to those seen at Palms a few days ago. 

 They frequent large trees and come down within a couple of feet 

 of the ground ; should anyone approach, they glide round to the 

 opposite side of the trunk and then hasten towards the top. On 

 two ti'ees tlie yellow heads of these Geckos rendered them con- 

 spicuous, but on a third, which was ovei'grown with tufts of grey 

 and yellow lichen, the yellow head broke up their outline and 

 rendered them inconspicuous ; this seems to be the probable 

 explanation of their somewhat peculiar coloration. By far the 

 most interesting thing about them was the tip of the tail, upon 

 which were transverse lamellae similar to those on digits of most 

 Geckos. This arrangement serves them as a fifth foot, thus pro- 

 viding additional grip. 



Handeni (27.vi. 16). Hunted most of the likely trees for 

 Geckos similar to the specimen taken yesterday ; most of them 

 were too quick for me, save those on one stump not more than 

 ten feet high. In passing this, I fancied seeing something glide 

 round, so dodged to and fro until I caught sight of a retreating 

 tail. Having broken olf all the smaller twigs, I put my arms 

 around the stump near the ground, then ran them up to a height 

 of five feet, where I tied a white handkerchief loosely around to 

 keep them from coming down. Then swarming up, I broke off" 

 all the remaining branches, raised the kerchief within a foot of 

 the top, and then captured one by one the male and two female 

 Geckos which were there. The male was very handsomely 

 coloured, with a velvety-black throat merging into a bright 

 yellow stripe along the centre of the belly. The grey and yellow 

 of the back and head (upper surface) were also much more vivid 

 than in the specimen taken yesterday. The females possess the 

 power of changing colour with great rapidit3^, being quite brown 

 when first sighted, but changing to a dull imitation of the male 

 when pursued. 



Kerogwe (S.vii. 16). The Yellow-headed Geckos are very 

 abundant hei-e, almost every third tree is inhabited by them. 

 Several pairs of their hard -shelled eggs were found under the 

 bark of the trees. 



Morogoro (2.iii.l7). Yellow-headed Geckos very abundant 

 hereon the trunks of the Acacia-trees, which border many of the 

 roads ; these Geckos are always to be found on the sunny side of 

 the tree-trunks durinof the morninp's. The male is handsome 

 blue-grey with a brilliant yellow head, which fades in spirit, so 



