Common Chameleon is found, not only in Northern Africa, but also in the south of Spain. A variety of this species is peculiar to India.

The COMMON CHAMELEON, (Chameleon vulgaris,) (see engraving,) was well known to the ancients; who, however, strangely distorted its history. It was supposed capable of changing its form, of assuming the colour of any object near it, and it was believed to feed upon air. These fictions were embellished by the poets, and hence it became the emblem of hypocrisy, or inconstancy. The engraving of this species correctly displays its form: the body is compressed; the back part of the head is elevated into a ridge, or casque; and the back is surmounted by a sort of keel, dentated at its commencement. The skin is covered with small, close-set granules. This animal is a native of Egypt, Tripoli, Algiers, and all the northern line of Africa, and also of the south of Spain. A variety inhabits India.

The THREE-HORNED CHAMELEON, (C. tricornis,) is a very remarkable animal, and is at once to be distinguished by a pointed horn, rising from the anterior margin of each orbit, and one on the top of the snout; the latter is the longest; and all are directed obliquely forwards. This species is a native of Fernando Po.

Another singular species is the FORK-NOSED CHAMELEON, (C. bifidus,) a native of the Moluccas, Bourbon, the continent of India, and also Australia. The top of the head (see annexed figure) is flat; and the muzzle is prolonged into two distinct branches, which are compressed and dentated along the upper, and under margins. The reasons for this strange formation are totally unknown. In its habits, the animal resembles the other species.

One of the largest of the present genus, the WARTY CHAMELEON, (C. verrucosus,) is a native of Madagascar. Its total length averages twenty inches.

As a detailed description of these and other species can only interest the professed naturalist, we shall pass over them, and proceed to our next family.

III. FAMILY, GECKOS.

THE Geckos are as clearly separable from the rest of the Sauria, as are the Chameleons, having characters which prevent their being confounded with any other group.

They are Lizards of an unpleasant aspect; but they do not attain to large dimensions. The head is broad and flat; the neck is narrow; the trunk is depressed, and thick; and the tail does not exceed the body in length. The limbs are short and stout; and the toes, which are nearly of equal size, are flattened and expanded on their under surface, either throughout the whole, or a greater portion of their length; and the dilated part, or the disc, is often marked with regular but minute plates, so ranged as to produce a striated surface. These discs act as suckers, which enable the animal to traverse walls, and even ceilings. Upon the variations which these discs, or expansions of the toes assume, most of the genera of this family are founded.

The nails are sharp, hooked, and retractile, like those of a cat; and, for the same reason, namely, that their points may be preserved from becoming worn or blunted. The tongue is fleshy, broad, but short, capable of but little protrusion, and notched at the tip, which alone is free.

The eyes are large, and full, with extremely contracted eyelids; which, as in the Chameleon, form only a single

membrane, leaving, however, a very large aperture, and exposing the membrana nictitans. The pupil, as in the cat, and other nocturnal animals, is linear, when undilated. The orifices of the ears are placed on the sides of the head; the tympanic membrane being considerably below the surface. The mouth is extremely wide; the teeth are small, equal, and compressed. The nostrils are placed laterally.

The skin is, more or less, covered with granulations, or horny tubercles; and a row of elevated pores is mostly continued along the inner side of each thigh. The voice of these reptiles is a sort of clucking cry, of which the term Gecko is an imitation.

With respect to the habits and manners of the Geckos, we may state that they are nocturnal; their food consists of insects and caterpillars, which they obtain by waiting in ambush for them, or by giving them chase, and pursuing them into the holes and crevices, where they retreat for refuge. Their feet, furnished beneath with imbricated suckers, adhere firmly to the surface of even the smoothest substances, permitting them to run with the greatest security over every object, and in all directions, to traverse ceilings, or suspend themselves on the under side of a leaf, while they watch the movements of their prey. The form of the claws, which are sharp, and hooked like those of a cat, give them the power of climbing the bark of trees with perfect facility, of penetrating the cavities and clefts of rocks, and of ascending walls, for the purpose of finding chinks or hollows, in which they conceal themselves during the day, resting motionless, and affixed by the feet, with the back downwards.

Their flattened, and very flexible body, when insinuated into small crevices, so adapts itself to them, as to deceive the eye; and this deception is farther strengthened, by the mingled dull tints of the skin, which blend and harmonize with the colours of the objects with which

the body is in contact. The skin of the Geckos is mostly of a grey or dull yellowish hue: in a few species, however, bright patterns ornament some portions of the body; it is said, also, that tints of blue, red, and yellow may be perceived, which appear and disappear at the creature's will. Wagler states, that travellers have described to him certain species in India, which become luminous, or phosphorescent, during the night. It is only during this season that the Geckos are alert and active, in pursuit of such insects, as, like themselves, profit by the darkness, to come forth from their retreats in quest of food.

The appearance of the Geckos is far from being pleasing; it is, indeed, forbidding: and hence, perhaps, the great aversion entertained towards them in the countries which they inhabit. They are regarded as being extremely venomous; and, it is believed, that even their touch occasions malignant disorders of the skin. They are said, also, to infect viands of any kind, over which they may crawl in the night, rendering such provisions unwholesome, or even poisonous.

These, however, are errors, which take their rise in a perverted reasoning upon facts. When the Gecko is allowed to crawl over the skin, its footsteps are followed by redness, occasioned, principally, by the insertion of the points of its claws; but partly, also, by the sucking action of the discs of the toes. To assign this redness to venom is natural among ignorant and superstitious people; and, to suppose, that, as the skin becomes poisoned by the creature's touch, food over which it creeps must, therefore, become infected and dangerous, is a natural inference. There may be, however, as in the case of the toad, an acrid secretion from the skin of the Gecko, which may produce a slight irritation, in conjunction with the puncture of its claws.

Persecuted, however, as the Geckos are, they are partial to the habitations of man; attracted, probably,

by the flies which also swarm there. They lurk in obscure corners, behind wood-work; or, amidst lumber of any kind, and only venture forth when night favours them They are, then, all alert; their large eyes gleam, and their bright and fixed gaze seems to bid defiance to their enemies, whose movements they watch with remarkable boldness. It is useless to try to seize them; so abrupt and rapid are their actions, that when their capture seems certain, they are gone, and not to be found. In their quick escape not the slightest noise, or rustle is heard, so that they vanish as if by magic.

One species of Gecko, at least, was known to the ancients: Aristotle often notices it, under the title of Ascalabotes, (Askaλaßŵтns.) By the Latin writers, from the time of Pliny, it was termed Stellio. Gesner, whose learning was of the first order, has brought together numerous passages from the ancient authors, by way of demonstrating that, under the names Ascalabotes and Galeotes, Aristophanes and Theophrastus have intended those small Lizards, or Geckos, which the Italians, in his own day, called Tarentola; and which are distinguished by a thick short body: they climb walls, and the sides of rooms, in search of spiders, on which they feed. Schneider, in a dissertation expressly on this subject, has fully proved, that the Stellio of Pliny is the

Common Gecko.

We must not omit to notice a singular power, which the Geckos have of reproducing their tail, when lost by accident. The tail, indeed, appears to be brittle; and, when broken off, it is soon replaced; but a swelling at the base of the reproduced member marks its line of union.

M. Bibron divides the Geckos into seven genera, in which he nearly follows Cuvier. The genera are

I. Platydactylus, (îλarvs, platys, flat; daктv\os, dactylos, a finger.