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VARANID^. 



Family V. VARANID^. 



Skull with incomplete postorbital and complete postfronto-squa- 

 mosal bony arches ; supratemporal fossa not roofed over ; prse- 

 maxillary single, narrowed and much produced posteriorly; nasals 

 coalesced, narrow ; parietal single ; infraorbital vacuity bounded by 

 the pterygoid, palatine, and transverse (transpalatine) bones, the 

 maxillary being excluded ; frontals completely surrounding the 

 olfactory lobes of the brain ; a fibro-cartilaginous interorbital 

 septum ; a columella cranii. Teeth large, dilated at the base, which 



