182 
BLUEFIELDS. 
hinder parts have the same whiteness as the head on 
the previous day ; for there seems always to be the 
difference of a day in the sloughing of the fore and 
hind parts. When the cuticle, however, is manifestly 
detached, it is not thrown off at once, but hangs 
'around the Lizard like a ragged garment, for several 
days ; apparently to its no small annoyance. 
The reproduction of the tail in Lizards, after it 
has been accidentally lost, is a very curious phe- 
nomenon, which seems not to have been observed 
with sufficient precision. In this species it takes 
place with great rapidity. The facility with which 
the tail separates has been already alluded to : it is 
said that the animal will frequently cast off this 
member spontaneously in its contortions on being 
put alive into spirits ; and that the contraction of the 
tail into a globular form has given occasion to the 
supposition that a distinct species existed, called the 
Turnip-tailed Gecko {Thecadactylus rapicauda ) ; 
this, however, I have not seen. 
One day, at Grand Vale, I observed, on a gate, a 
Gecko with a new tail, not more than an inch and a 
half in length, abruptly tapered. The animal had a 
singular appearance, the tail being of a bluish grey 
hue, marked with longitudinal black stripes ; it had 
a silky gloss, but was closely covered with minute 
transverse wrinkles. (The ordinary length of the tail 
when perfect is about five inches.) 
About the middle of September, I caught in a 
noose one which I had deprived of its tail a few days 
before in attempting to secure it. The separation 
had taken place about half an inch behind the vent. 
