24 Geckos. KEPTILES. Geckos. 
without any bad effects having followed. He believes 
that the fear with which they inspire the negroes, is 
caused by their not flying from them when encountered ; 
but, on the contrary, boldly walking up to them with 
their mouth wide open, in spite of any attempt they 
make to frighten them away. The Famocantrata lives 
generally upon trees like the chameleon, retiring into 
holes during the day, and leaving them only at night. 
Upon the approach of rain it may be seen leaping from 
branch to branch with great agility. If it falls to the 
ground, however, it is unable to leap up again, but it 
crawls to the nearest tree, creeping up the smoothest 
bark, and then recommencing leaping from one branch 
to another. It walks with difficulty on the ground, 
like the chameleon, and what appears to add to its 
awkward gait is, that its fore-feet are much shorter 
than its hind ones, and its head forms, underneath, 
such an angle with the body, that at every step it takes 
it strikes its nose against the ground. Its food consists 
exclusively of insects, and it may generally be seen 
moving about with its throat wide open, ready to 
catch them. 
In this first group we have also several genei’a, the 
species of which are distinguished by having their toes 
dilated only at their base, the two last joints being free, 
compressed, and clawed. These, are the Half-ioes, or 
Hemidactyles. 
THE WARTY GECKO {Hemidactylus verruculatus). 
one of these, is one of the few Geckos found in Europe. 
It is a native of all the countries bordering upon the 
Mediterranean, and is found in Northern Africa, in the 
neighbourhood of Trebizond, in Greece, Sicily, Italy, 
Spain, and the south of France; and, according to M. 
Bibron, it would appear to be even found in Senegal 
and in Chili, It is of a grayish colour, marbled with 
brown. 
THE MABOUYA OF THE WALLS {Hemidactylus 
Mabouia), another Hemidactyle, is extremely common 
in the West Indies and Brazil, living in houses, and 
where it receives this name, to distinguish it from the 
Turnip-tailed Gecko, which the negroes call the 
Mabouya of the Bananas. It is of a fawn colour on 
the body, with a number of five-sided brown spots 
across the back. Little is known of the particular 
habits of these two animals. 
In the second group, those which have only a single 
series of transverse plates underneath the toes, we find 
a number of genera, the species of which have the toes 
dilated throughout their whole length, and the plates 
beneath the toes membranaceous and smooth. These 
are the Flat-toes, or Platydactyles. 
THE TRUE GECKO [Gecko vcrus), one of these, is 
of a thicker and stouter form than most others of the 
family, having a large and somewhat triangular flat- 
tish head, a wide mouth, large eyes, and a broad flat 
tongue. The back is covered with numerous, distant, 
round warts, or tubercles, and is of a reddish-gi-ay 
colour, spotted with white. It is a native of India, 
being found both on the continent and throughout the 
islands of the Indian archipelago. 
THE FRINGED TREE-GECKO [Ptychozoon homalo- 
cephala) is one of the most remarkable species of this 
group. The sides of the head, the lateral parts of its 
body, the front and back parts of its feet, and the sides 
of its tail, are fringed with membranes which are quite 
entire along the flanks, but scalloped along the edges 
of the tail. These membranes on the temples give the 
head the appearance of being more than a third larger 
than the skull. On their external margin they are very 
thin, but where they approach the body of the animal, 
they assume a greater thickness, owing to solid bundles 
of muscular fibres. The eyes are large, and the toes 
are united to each other throughout their whole length 
l;y a web or broad membrane. The body on the upper 
parts is of a brown colour, marked with several black 
lines en chevron; a dark-brown streak runs along the 
head from the back of the eye along the neck, termi- 
nating on the shoulder ; and the membranes of the 
head and flanks are white. This curious Gecko is 
found in Java. It appears to live on trees, and makes 
use of the expanded membranes with which its body 
is furnished as parachutes, to assist its movements from 
one branch to another. 
The genus Tarentola [Platydactijlus) contains 
several well-known species. 
THE WALL GECKO [Tarentola Mauritanica), is one 
of the most common. It is said to be a most hideous 
reptile, concealing itself in holes of walls and heaps 
of stones, and covering its body with dust and ordure. 
It is a native of temperate climates, being found all 
round the Mediterranean Sea, even as far as Provence 
and Languedoc, where it is very common, and is 
called there Tarente. The AVall Gecko likes warmth, 
and avoiding low and damp situations, takes up its 
abode under the roofs of ruined houses and old habita- 
tions of all kinds, in which kind of places it spends 
the winter, but without becoming perfectly torpid. 
At the first approach of spring, it leaves its hiding 
place, and betakes itself to some warm spot to bask 
in the rays of the sun ; but it does not go far from its 
retreat, returning there upon the least noise, or on the 
approach of rain. Its food consists of insects chiefly, 
and to find these it can run quickly up walls or along 
the ceilings of rooms back downwards. Like most 
repulsive looking animals, the Wall Gecko has the 
credit with the vulgar of being venomous. This, how- 
ever, is a mistaken notion, as they are perfectly harm- 
less. Lacepede, on the authority of M. Olivier, says 
that this species, unlike the generality of the family, 
utters no cry; and that M. Olivier has frequently taken 
hold of them with a pair of pincers without being able 
to elicit from them any sound. 
THE EGYPTIAN GECKO [Tarentola Egyptiaca), 
represented in Plate 2, fig. 1, very nearly resembles 
the Wall Gecko, differing only in a few particulars, 
and being a little larger. Geoffrey says that full-grown 
individuals measure five feet in length from the muzzle 
to the extremity of the tail. It seems peculiar to 
Egypt, and its habits are nearly the same as those of 
the last. Two or three species of this same genus are 
found in South Africa. 
BIBRON’S TARENTOLE [Tarentola Bihronii), and 
the CAPE TARENTOLE [T. Capensis), are described 
by Sir A. Smith, as being found in the interior, though 
not very abundantly. They occur chiefly in rocky 
precipitous places, and in outhouses badly lighted. 
