THE LIVING WORLD. 
141 
The Flying Gecko (PtycJiozoon homalocephalum) . This singular reptile, 
found nearly everywhere in the tropics, varies in size from six to twelve inches in 
length. Though repulsive in shape, their marking is exceedingly attractive, 
banded as they are with zig-zag streaks of deep black from tip of nose to tail. 
The toes are broadly spread and webbed like the feet of the common blue 
mud-hen, though for what purpose is not known, as the animal does not enter 
the water. The most singular feature observable in the gecko is the dermal 
expansion that extends on both sides, from the mouth to the tail, terminating 
in a foliated, or leaf-shaped tip. This expansion, when the 
animal is quiet, appears as if the skin was too large for the 
body and the surplus lay loosely along its sides. Towards 
the tail, however, the skin is not continuous, but appears 
like a succession of plates. So far from this seeming sur¬ 
plus of skin being a burden to the animal it serves the most 
useful purpose of enab¬ 
ling the creature to fly 
through the air for con- 
siderable distances, 
though always at a de¬ 
scending degree. At th.e 
moment the gecko leaps, 
these skin expansions 
are spread so that it 
sails m a manner iden¬ 
tical with the flying 
squirrel. 
The Flying Drake 
or Dragon {Draco 
volens ) bears a close 
analogy to the gecko, 
though it is a much less pleasing creature. 
It possesses, though in a lesser degree, the 
power described in the gecko, being able, by 
means of the expansion of its surplus skin, 
to sail from limb to limb. The flying drake 
is also peculiar to the tropics, where it at¬ 
tains a considerable size, and in Africa is 
frequently met with more than two feet in 
length. t 
The Chameleon {Chamceleo vulgaris) is also a tropical reptile, but most 
common to Africa, where its range is from the Mediterranean to a line some 
distance below the equator. This creature is entirely arboreal, quitting the trees 
only to deposit its eggs under a small hillock of leaves gathered for he 
puimose. It P possesses many points of singularity which make it possibly the 
mo?t curious animal in nature, as well as one of the most hideous The 
head is large and angular, covered with shields and highly ridged, while the 
body is covered with a shagreen skin very like a sharks. The tongue is 
extensile and club-shaped, which the animal may dart out half the leng h of 
its body, and with such lightning-like rapidity that the eye cannot detect the 
SPECIES OF CREEPING, CLIMBING AND WALL¬ 
RUNNING LIZARDS. 
