54 
GECKO LIZARD. 
Geckos of this species possess something of the property of the 
Cam el eon. One of them, which dropped from the ceiling on a table 
before me, was immediately imprisoned in an inverted tumbler. On 
falling it was nearly white, but assumed in a few minutes a deeper 
hue, and at length almost took the colour of the mahogany on which 
it rested. 
This lizard is very different from the large gecko of Java, of which 
1 have a specimen now in my possession. And the latter does not, 
as has been supposed, correspond in its characters with the Tokaie of 
authors, also arranged by Cuvier under his subdivision Hemi-dactyles ; 
as it has only one row of transverse imbricated plates covering the 
base of its spreading toes, and will therefore fall under the subdivision 
Platy-dactyles. * 
The following characters are taken from one of the species, which 
measures eleven inches in length, and weighs 1420 grains. It is 
of a lead colour marbled with red, on the back and tail, and is 
of a bluish white tinged with red, on the belly. Its back to the 
end of the tail is covered with conical tubercles in longitudinal 
series. These are prominent, acute, and nearly erect on the hin- 
der part of the head, but on the back and upper part of the tail 
are compressed and directed backwards. Its scales on the head and 
back are small, round, and disseminated ; on the belly are small, 
oval, and imbricated; under the tail are large, square, and imbri- 
cated in a band-like manner. It has a row of.large pores before the 
anus. Its great toes are without claws. These characters bring it 
very near, if they do not identify it with the gecko of Ceylon, the 
gecko d gouttelettet of Daudin, figured in Seba. )' 
Bontius lias stated, that an animal answering in all its characters to 
the one which I have described, is notorious for its poisonous touch 
and deadly bite. 
* Platy-dactyles ont les doigts etargis sur toute lour longueur,- et garnis en dessous 
d’ecaillcs trnnsversales.” Regne Animal, tom. ii. p. 45. 
f Tom. i. pi. cviii. 
