On a collection of lizards from the Malay peninsula, made by members of the 'Skeat expedition', 1899-1900 / by F.F. Laidlaw.

  • Frank Fortescue Laidlaw
Date:
1901
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: On a collection of lizards from the Malay peninsula, made by members of the 'Skeat expedition', 1899-1900 / by F.F. Laidlaw. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [From the Proceedings of the Zoological Sxxhety of London, April 2,^901^ On a Collection of Lizards from the Malay Peninsula, made by Members of the “ Skeat Expedition,” 1899- 1900. By F. F. Laidlaw, B.A., Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator at Owens College. (Text-figure 76.) I. Native names of the Lizards. The small House-Geckos are known to the Malays as “chi-chak ” (“ chee-chak ”). Gecko verticillatus is called “ tokay.” The different members of the genus Varanus are called “biawak” or “ bewak ” (biawah”). Liolepis bellii is the “bewak pasir” (sand-lizard); Gecko stentor the owl lizard, “ bewak pongo.” Draco is often spoken of as “ chichak terbang ” or flying lizard, sometimes “ bidadari ” (fairy or celestial spirit), occasionally by way of a joke “ bidandari ” (bidan = midwife;. The species of Calotes and Gono- dactylus are called “ sumpah-sumpah ” in the south, farther north “pokah.” The Skinks are called “bengkarong” (or “ mengkarong”), except Lygosoma chalcides, which is regarded as a snake and called “ ular berkaki.,” the snake with feet, or “ ular bengkarong,” lizard-like snake. Tachydromus sexlineatus, on the other hand, is “ bengkarong ular,” the snake-like lizard. II. Distribution of the Lizardsl. The distribution of Lizards throughout the Peninsula is of course modified by the physical characters of the country. Thus along the east coast, where there are large tracts of barren sandy country, Liolepis bellii is exceedingly abundant and in such localities is the only reptile to be seen. This lizard is the only example from the Peninsula of the terrestrial group of Agamoids, so numerous in Australia and Africa, and it is interesting to find that it keeps to the driest and most exposed places to be found. A number of species are only to be found in the cultivated lands lying alongside the rivers and spreading out over the plains. Calotes cristatellus is certain to be met with wherever there are groves of cocoanut, palms, or banana plants. The common species of Varanus too are abundant, sometimes they are to be seen right in the towns. I shot a specimen of V. salvator well over 5 feet in length at the back of our house in Tringganu, where it was feeding on a dead pig. Draco volans is also found in cultivated lands; in the north Gecko verticillatus, which does not live in houses in the Peninsula, is sometimes to be met with under the bark of trees along with Hemidactylus frenatus. The most widely spread of all is perhaps Mabuia multifasciata, equally at home in the thickest forests and in towns within a few feet of high-WTiter mark. The small house- haunting Geckos complete the Lizard-fauna of the cultivated 1 The position of the localities in which specimens were collected is shown in the sketch-map, text-fig, 76, p. 302. [1]