36 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
[^UPPER FLOOR. 
downwards, on the ceiling of a room, like a fly. They are 
found in ail parts of the world, and are divided into many 
groups, according to the form of their toes. Some of the 
most peculiar are the Common Gecko ( Gecko guttatus), 
from India ; the Chinese Gecko ( Gecko Revesii ), from 
China ; and the Ornamented Gecko ( Gecko ornatus ), from 
the Isle of France. All these have only a single trans¬ 
verse series of scales, on the under side of each toe. Hard- 
wicke’s Gecko (j Eublepharis Hardwickii) differs from the 
former, by the toes being more slender, and less dilated; 
one of the species, Horsfield’s Gecko ( Pteropleura Hors - 
jieldii) which lives in the ponds in Java, has the skin on 
the side of the chin, body, limbs and tail dilated into a 
kind of fin. 
Many of the species of these Lizards, from their lurid 
appearance, are considered as poisonous by the natives of 
India, and some even assert that they infect every sub¬ 
stance which they walk over, but this is, at least, ex¬ 
tremely doubtful. 
Other species have the scales under the toes divided by 
a central groove, into which the claws are retractile (The- 
cadactyli). One of these, the Smooth Sheath-claw (Gecko 
Ice vis), has many scales under the toes, and when the ani^ 
mal is caught, in its exertion to escape it often casts off its 
tail. It does the same if thrown alive into spirits, in 
which case the separated tail contracts, and assumes an 
almost globular shape, and is most usually found in this 
state in collections, whence this species has been generally 
called the Turnip-tail Gecko (Gecko rapicauda) . The 
Beautiful Sheath-claw ( Phyllodactylus pulchellus ) has only 
two or three transverse scales on each side of the claws, so 
that the ends of the toes very nearly resemble the tips of 
the feet of the common fly. In another species, the 
Egyptian Sheath-claw (Gecko lobatus), the scales under 
the toes radiate from a centre, like the sticks of a fan; 
and the Imbricated Gecko, a species from Madagascar, 
which has the scales under the toes very like the former, 
has the edge of its body and tail dilated into fins. 
Another group (Hemidactylus) has only the base of the 
toss dilated, and the ends compressed and free. These 
are common about dwellings in India, Egypt, South Ame¬ 
rica, and other warm parts of the world, and are therefore 
