. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. TSE GECKOS. 2S'J webbed as tliose of a Tree Frog. Tlie Geckos and all tlio family iiave the skin loose, and it is not covered witli trae scales, as in the Common Lizards and most other Rei)tiles. There are leathery tubercles roiiuded and sometimes pi'ojecting on the skin, and many minute delicate rounded bodies are found in its thickness. But it is usually soft, and its colours may be grey or yellowish, and there are lovely tints of blue, green, and red in some. The males, as a rule, are more brightly coloured than the females, but in both
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. TSE GECKOS. 2S'J webbed as tliose of a Tree Frog. Tlie Geckos and all tlio family iiave the skin loose, and it is not covered witli trae scales, as in the Common Lizards and most other Rei)tiles. There are leathery tubercles roiiuded and sometimes pi'ojecting on the skin, and many minute delicate rounded bodies are found in its thickness. But it is usually soft, and its colours may be grey or yellowish, and there are lovely tints of blue, green, and red in some. The males, as a rule, are more brightly coloured than the females, but in both instances the sombre tints allow the prey to be caught readily; for the Geckos will climb to some apparently inaccessible place, wall, tree, or rocks,. whose colour assimilates with theirs, and will remain perfectly stationary until the unwary insect or spider comes within the range of their attack. Or they will creep out of their hiding-place and pounce upon larvfe, and dig out pupse from crevices. They are fonder of twilight and noc- turnal wandering than moving by day, and they usually feed at night. They have no scaly or leathei-y eyelids, only a rim of soft lid, but there is a delicate tissue which can be passed over the eyes like a nictitating membrane. The pupil is usually cat-like, and enables the Gecko to hunt liy day and night, but in some genera it is round, and eminently adapted for purely nocturnal vision. The tongue Ls, of course, a short thick one, very slightly forked in front; and as it moves it can drag up the glottis to the palate, so as to form a clicking or clucking sound, something like the word gek, geko. Hence the name of the genus and family. The teeth are numerous and pleuro-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Duncan, P. Martin (Peter Martin), 1821-1891; Metcalf Colle
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
