GECKOS. 
hi 
creatures, that in Egypt the lobe-footed, or fan-footed species is commonly termed 
abou-burs, or father of leprosy. 
Geckos, of which there are some two hundred and eighty species, distributed 
over all the warmer parts of the globe, although more numerous in the Indian and 
Australian regions than elsewhere, are for the most part small and plumply-built 
nocturnal lizards, characterised by their depressed form and dust-like coloration. 
The rather long and more or less flattened head is broad and triangular in shape; 
the large eyes are characterised by the absence of movable lids, and by the pupil 
being, except in a few diurnal forms, vertical; while the aperture of the ears is 
likewise in the form of an upright slit. Externally, the head is covered with minute 
granules, or small scales, and the body is devoid of a bony armour, and in most 
cases covered above with granules, and beneath with small overlapping scales. If 
we add to the above features that the tongue is either smooth or covered with 
villous papillae, and is short or 
moderate in length, and not 
sheathed at the base, and that 
the bodies of the vertebrae articu¬ 
late together by means of cup¬ 
shaped surfaces at both their 
extremities, we shall have said 
sufficient to distinguish the 
geckos from all other members 
of the suborder. As regards 
their other external characters, 
the neck is very short and thick, 
the body, although rounded, 
markedly depressed, and the 
tail, which is generally remark¬ 
ably brittle, usually thick and 
of moderate length, with its 
basal portion either cylindrical 
or laterally compressed, although it may be leaf-like, or even rudimental. In some 
cases the tail is known to be prehensile, and it is not improbable that it is 
frequently endowed with this power. The limbs are generally remarkable for 
their shortness, and are always provided with five toes each, the tips or sides of 
which may be more or less dilated. In those species inhabiting desert regions, the 
toes are of normal form, being often nearly cylindrical, and keeled on their lower 
surfaces; but in the great majority of the members of the family, they are expanded 
either throughout their length or partially into adhesive discs, of which the under 
surface is formed by a series of movable symmetrical plates of variable form, by 
the aid of which the creatures are enabled to ascend walls and run across the 
ceilings of rooms. In some cases the claws are retractile, either within the plates 
of the discs, or into sheaths; while in other instances the toes may be united by 
webs, which are not, however, for the purpose of swimming, all the geckos being 
land-lizards. The numerous teeth are small, and attached to one side of the 
summit of the jaw (pleurodont). 
LOBE-FOOTED GECKO. 
