18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.60. 



The articular ball of the centrum in all the succeeding vertebrae 

 available for measurement are nearly twice as wide as high, the artic- 

 ular surface being inclined upward and backward. The diapophyses 

 extending outward from the anterior side of the centra gradually 

 grow more robust, proceeding posteriorly. The anterior zygapo- 

 physes also become successively shortened, but with broader articular 

 faces. The spinous processes remain about the same height as in the 

 preceding series, but appear broader antero-posteriorly. 



The third series of articulated dorsals, consisting of 10 vertebrae, 

 probably represent the twelfth to the twenty-first. (See pi. 3, fig. 2.) 

 All resemble one another so closely that a description of one will do 

 for all. Except for their relatively shorter 

 spines and smaller size, I am unable to find 

 any other features that would distinguish them 

 from the corresponding vertebrae in the skele- 

 ton of Varanus salvator^ from Java (Cat. No. 

 29551, U.S.N.M.) now before me. 



The anterior articular concavity of the cen- 

 trum is a transverse ellipse, obliquely placed, 

 looking downward and forward, the under sur- 

 FiG. 16.— Dorsal vbrte- face of the body being flattened anteropos- 

 BUA OF saniwa ensi- tcriorlv and slightly convex transversely. The 



DENS L E I D Y . Type, . '' . , . . , 



Cat. No. 2185, U.S.N.M. articular coiivcxity corresponds m size and 

 Natural size, t, gj^ape witli the anterior cup, with an opposite 



TRANSVERSE PROC- ^ ii- ill! Ij. 



ESSES ; z, ANTERIOR zY- aspcot, lookiug upward and backward at an 

 GAPOPHYsis ; z', pos- angle of 45° to the lower surface of tlie centrum 



TERIOR ZYGAPOPHYSIS. , r> \ rm i • Clin 



(see fig. 16). The lateral margins oi the ball 

 project a little beyond the narrow constriction which divides it from 

 the rest of the centrum. 



In advance of this constriction the sides of the body rise, expand- 

 ing outwardly at the anterior end to form the projecting costal 

 tubercle, which appears to be supported by both the neurapophyses 

 and centrum, though nowhere in the series is there a trace of the 

 neurocentral suture to be found. The tubercle for the ribs in this 

 section of the column presents a hemispherical articular surface as 

 in the living Monitor, In front of the tubercle the heavy support 

 of the prezygapophyes rises, extending upward and slightly for- 

 ward, the upper articular surface being flat looks inward and, up- 

 ward, the whole projecting but slightly anterior to the forward end 

 of the centrum. 



The upper surface of the broad neural arch between the anterior 

 zj^gapophyses is, roughly speaking, concave, but traversed longi- 

 tudinally by a median elevation that develops on its anterior margin, 



