THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 231 
In order to learn more of the habits of these interesting 
little lizards, the writer kept Geckos in captivity for a period 
of five and a half years, commencing in October, 1912. The 
longest time any individual Gecko was kept was about four 
years. During the time mentioned 42 specimens of G. platurus 
were captured and kept in captivity for various periods. In the 
case of each one a record of the size and type of tail (that is, 
whether “first,” “second,” or “button’’—a very young tail) was 
made. An analysis of these records regarding the type of tail 
shows the following interesting result: 
Thus only 373 % of the Geckos classified as “Full grown” 
had the first tail, while the remainder had either a “second” 
tail or none at all: of those classified as “Young, half-grown 
and Nearly Full Grown,” 831-3 % still had the first. tail, in- 
dicating that the younger ones—as a class—had not gone through 
experiences leading to the throwing off of the tail to anything 
like the extent that the full grown ones had. 
Records were kept of the growth of some of the yonnger 
Geckos caught with the following result:— 
Growth.—A_ specimen caught on Noy. 6th, 1912, measured 
2gin. from tip of nose to end of tail: when re-measured 2 
year later its total length was 4in. 
Another young Geeko which measured 24in. when captured, . 
showed a growth of 1}in. in three months—this is reuch quicker 
than the average, 
. Casting of Skin—The Geckos slough off the epidermis at 
intervals and pieces of the white, lace-like material can some- 
times be seen caught in spiders’ webs under overhanging rocks— 
often the epidermis of the foot will come off in one piece, the 
toes looking like the fingers of a pair of fairy’s gloves. A few 
records of the regularity, or irregularity, of this casting of the 
skin, were as follows:—A “young Gecko (the one first men- 
tioned under the heading of Growth) was observed to cast 
the skin regularly every two months for-a period of a year then 
change the skin for two months running and then miss altogether 
for four months. Another one which was about half grown changed 
its skin on ‘the 7th March, 10th May, 2nd June, 11th Septem- 
ber, 20th October, 17th November, and’ 7th December (1913). A 
fully grown one changed its skin in March, September, Janu- 
ary and November. However, one cannot infer from this that 
the full grown Geckos always cast the epidermis at much wider 
