THE FAN-FOOT. 
71 
The last family of the sub-order Leptoglossse, or Slender-tongued Lizards, is the group of 
reptiles termed the Rough -tailed Lizards, or Luopeltid/e. In these Lizards the head is rather 
compressed, flat above, and sharp towards the muzzle. The eyes are of moderate size, and 
without eyelids, a bony scale answering the purpose. The body is cylindrical, and covered 
with regular, six-sided scales, sometimes ridged, but mostly smooth. The tail is also cylin- 
drical, and abruptly terminated, as if cut off obliquely. There are no external limbs, and by 
most systematic naturalists the Rough -tails have been placed among the serpents, which they 
very closely resemble, except in the arrangement of certain scales, and the short, abruptly 
truncated tail. 
The Rough-tailed Lizards are divided into three genera, separated from each other by the 
formation of the scales that cover the tail. While moving, the Rough-tails aid themselves by 
pressing the truncated tail against the ground. As a typical species, we may select the Philip- 
pine Shield-tail ( Uropeltis pMlippmus ), a reptile which, as its name imports, inhabits the 
Philippine Islands. In this creature the tail is rather flattened, and covered above with a 
curious “flat, roundish, radiating, granular shield.” On the lower side of the tail the scales 
are arranged in six rows. The color of the Philippine Shield-tail is brown above and white 
beneath, the line of demarcation being very distinct, and regularly waved. 
THICK-TONGUED LIZARDS; PACHYGLOSS^E. 
A new sub-order now comes before our notice, the members of which are distinguished by 
the formation of their tongues, which, instead of being flat and comparatively slender, as in 
the preceding Lizards, are thick, convex, and have a slight nick at the end. On account of 
this structure, the species of this sub-order are termed Pachygloss^e, or Thick-tongued 
Lizards. 
These reptiles are divided into sundry groups, the first of which is termed the Nycti- 
satjka, or Nocturnal Lizards. These creatures have eyes formed for seeing in the dusk, 
circular eyelids which, however, cannot meet over the eye-ball, and in almost every case the 
pupil is a long narrow slit like that of the cat. The body is always flattened. The limbs are 
four in number, tolerably powerful, and are used in progression. 
Of these Lizards, the first family is the GeckotiD/E, or Geckos, a very curious group of 
reptiles, common in many hot countries, and looked upon with dread or adoration by the 
natives, sometimes with both, where the genius of the nation leads them to reverence the 
object of their fears, and to form no other conception of supreme power than the capability of 
doing harm. 
The Fan-foot, or House Gecko, is a native of Northern Africa, and is very common in 
Egypt, and is found, as its name imports, in houses, traversing the floor and walls with aston- 
ishing address, in search of its food, which consists of worms, insects, and similar creatures. 
The natives have a very great dread of this creature, asserting that it is extremely poisonous — 
the poison not being injected by the teeth, but exuding from the lobules of the toes. The 
generic title Ptyodactylus, or Toe-spitter, is given to the reptile in allusion to this idea. It 
is said by Hasselquist, that if a Gecko is taken in the hand, the poisonous matter which is 
immediately shed over the skin from the feet of the captive, causes an instantaneous eruption, 
similar to that produced by the sting of a nettle. The same traveller proceeds to relate an 
incident which is hardly so much in accordance with probability, namelv, that two women and 
a girl were lying at the point of death from having eaten some cheese over which one of these 
reptiles had walked. 
So great is the dread inspired by this creature, that in Cairo it is popularly termed Abou- 
burs, or father of the leprosy. The people fancy that it purposely poisons their provisions, 
and that it is especially fond of communicating the venom to salted meat of all kinds. In 
former times the Fan-foot was endowed with even greater powers of offence, its teeth being 
added to its weapons, and asserted to be capable of leaving their impression even on steel, 
