Hemidactylus coctcei, the common gecko or small gecko. The spider of the English Bible, Proverbs xxx. 28, was undoubtedly a small gecko represented by this species, and the word was so rendered in the Syriac version made in the 2d century, and in the Vulgate Latin made in the 4th century. Jerome translated, Stellio manibus nititur, Et moratur in mdibus regis,' into The gecko taketh hold with her hands, And dwelleth in kings' palaces.' Hemidactylus frfenatns is the cheecha of Ceylon. It scarcely ever exceeds the length of 4 to 5 inches, and is one of the most common house geckos ; seen soon after sunset in search of prey, which consists of flies and other insects. It does not reject boiled rice and crumbs of bread, always returning to the spot where it has been thut before fed. It is also frequently met with on trees and on rocks. The female lays three or four eggs, in crevices of old walls or in the hollows of trees. This small species is of fierce habits, like several other Geekonida., destroying its own species.
The ninth family are the Agames, or Agamidx. The agames are land lizards, spread over almost every part of the Old World and of Australia., being much less numerous in the temperate parts than in the tropical,— some with a compressed body, and with a long, more or less compressed tail, live on trees or bushes ; whilst others, with ' a depressed body, and with a shorter tail, inhabit rocks or plains. The most slender and the most gaily-coloured forms belong to the former division, the heavier ones, with duller colours, to the latter. They do not attain to any considerable size, and none of the Indian species exceed a foot in length, the tail not included. The greater part are insect ivorous, but many feed on vegetables (seeds, fruits, leaves), as well as on animals.
Draco, Linn., the dragons, a genus of the Agamidm, have a semicircular membrane, sup ported by the five or six posterior (false) ribs, which are much prolonged, forming a sort of wing or parachute on each side of the body. A vertical appendage is suspended from the middle of the throat ; a stnaller horizontal fold of the skin on each side of the gular appendage. The dragons are entirely confined to the East Indies ; they are more numerous" in the Archipelago than on the continent ; they have not yet been found in Ceylon. The character by which they are at once recognised is the peculiar additional apparatus for locomotion formed by the much-prolonged five or six hind ribs, which are connected by a broad expansible fold of the skin, the whole forming a sub-semicircular wing on each side of the body. The dragons are tree lizards, and in jumping from branch to branch they are supported in the air by their expanded parachutes, which are laid back wards at the sides of the animal while it is sitting or merely running. If the hind extremities of a dragon were cut off, it would lie helpless on the ground ; but it would still move with great velocity if it were merely deprived of its wings.
The locomotion of the dragons is a series of leaps, and not a continuous running ; they are the anoles of the Old World. The transcendent beauty of the colourof Draco volans baffiesdescrip tion. As the lizard lies in the shade along the trunk of a tree, its colours, at a distance, appear like a mixture of brown and grey, and render it scarcely distinguishable from the bark. Thus it remains, with no signs of life, except the restless eyes, watching passing insects, which, suddenly expand ing its wings, it seizes with a sometimes consider able unerring leap.
Sitana ponticeriana, Cuv. This common ground lizard is distributed over all India, but is rare in the wooded districts, frequenting the open country, field, and low copses. On the approach of danger, it runs with great rapidity, tail erect, and conceals itself in any crack in the ground or hole, or under a stone or bush. Notwithstanding its activity, it is the common prey of harriers, buzzards, hawks, and eagles.
Calotes are true tree lizards, some having the tail rather compressed at the base. C. versicolor is the blood-sucker. The ground colour is gener ally a light - brownish olive, but the lizard can change it to bright red, to black, and to a mix ture of both. The bright changeable colours are peculiar to the male during the breeding season, in the months of May and June, and it then may be seen seated on a, hedge or bush, with the tail and limbs black, head and neck yellow picked out with red, and the rest of the body red. This is one of the most common lizards, extend ing from Afghanistan over the whole continent of India to Ceylon and China ; not extending into the temperate zone of the Himalaya. Ceylonese specimens are generally somewhat larger ; one of them measured 16 inches, the tail taking 11 inches. It is found in hedges and trees. The name of blood-sueker, in the opinion of Kelaart, was given from the occasional reddish hue of the throat and neck.
A tenth fmnily are Chameleons, or Chameleon idsc. Africa is inhabited by numerous species ; they extend to the northern shores of the Mediter ranean and into South-Western Asia, into Hin dustan and Northern Ceylon. The inflexibility of the neck is compensated by the wonderful structure of the eyes, which are so prominent that more than one-half of the ball stands out of the head ; and not only can they be moved in any direction, but each bits an action independent of the other, —one eye may be looking forward, whilst an object behind the aniinal is examined with the other. The faculty of changing colour possessed by the chameleons, although common to numerous other lizards, has become proverbial, and is so much developed that one side may assume a colour different from that of the other. They are oviparous, depositing under leaves from ten to twelve oval eggs with calcareous shells. The species have been left together in one genus; only one species is found in British India.