It is the _gecko_ or croaking lizard (_Thecodactylus
loevis_), a nocturnal animal in its chief activity, but always to be
seen in these places or in hollow trees even by day. Its appearance is
repulsive, I allow, but its reputation for venom is libellous and
groundless.
The stranger walks into the dwelling-house: lizards, lizards, still
meet his eye. The little anoles (_A. iodurus, A. opalinus_, &c.) are
chasing each other in and out between the jalousies, now stopping to
protrude from the throat a broad disk of brilliant colour, crimson or
orange, like the petal of a flower, then withdrawing it, and again
displaying it in coquettish play. Then one leaps a yard or two through
the air, and alights on the back of his playfellow; and both struggle
and twist about in unimaginable contortions. Another is running up and
down on the plastered wall, catching the ants as they roam in black
lines over its whited surface; and another leaps from the top of some
piece of furniture upon the back of the visitor's chair, and scampers
nimbly along the collar of his coat. It jumps on the table--can it be
the same? An instant ago it was of the most beautiful golden green,
except the base of the tail, which was of a soft, light, purple hue;
now, as if changed by an enchanter's wand, it is of a sordid, sooty
brown all over, and becomes momentarily darker and darker, or mottled
with dark and pale patches of a most unpleasing aspect.
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