230 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
old one dying off. Mr. E. Pescott has an interesting account 
of the tubers in a paper in the Victorian Naturalist. 
The commonest genera are Dipodium, Spiranthes, Calochi- 
lus, Thelymitra (a genus which has no labellum), Diuris, Praso- 
phyllum, Microtis, Pterostylis, Caleana, Acianthus, Eriochilus, 
Lyperanthus, Caladenia and Glossodia. 
The lecture was illustrated by a number of colored lantern 
slides. 
A FEW OBSERVATIONS ON GECKOS. 
By Rose M. WINTER. 
Though known popularly as Rock Scorpions and believed 
by many to be poisonous, Geckos deserve neither their name 
nor their reputation. They are nocturnal lizards hiding by 
day in crevices of rocks and under bark, and coming forth at 
night to capture their food in the form of insects, ete. Some 
Geckos’ feet are provided with suction pads, while others have 
small claws: to the latter class belongs Gymnodactylus platurus 
—the Gecko common around Sydney and frequently seen on 
rocks or walls at night. G. platurus does not grow much. more 
than Gin, long, from the tip of the nose to the end of the 
spine on the heart shaped tail; the skin is covered with tubercles, 
the eyes are large and prominent. 
Now, a most curious fact about Geckos is their ability, 
when pursued or hard pushed in a fight, to throw off the rather 
cumbersome tail and eseape. The tail, on being detached from 
the body, squirms vigorously for a considerable time—this is. 
often sufficient to distract the attention of the pursuer while 
Gecko, minus his tail, makes good his escape. Another tail 
will grow, but is always’ different in skin texture, and some- 
times in shape, to the first or perfect tail, and one can 
always tell whether a Gecko has an original or subsequent tail. . 
Whether there is any limit to the number of times the tail 
can be replaced, and whether there would be any difference in 
skin texture between, say, a second and third or ‘fourth tail, 
remains to be proved. The new tail appears first in the form 
‘of a button, dark-bluish in colour and very smooth; when it 
grows it is frequently wider than the first tail and always 
smoother—not having the large tubercles on the skin. 
