VARANUS. 345 



keeled. Sixteen transverse rows of strongly keeled dorsal plates. 

 Colour pale or greenish olive, conspicuously black spotted. Grows to 

 30 feet; individuals 15 feet in length are not uncommon. 



Hob. — Found throughout India and Ceylon. This is the species 

 so religiously cared for at Muggur Peer. Affects marshes, lakes, 

 riversj estuaries and the sea coast. Eggs white, cylindrical, hard- 

 shelled ; 3*25 inches Xl"5 in diameter. 



Ga vial is. 



Snout very long and slender ; teeth slender, sharp ; food, fish and 

 turtles. 



Gavialis gangeticus, Gmel. Syst. Nat.i.,-p. 1057; Gunth. Rep. 

 Br. Intl., p. C3; Theob. Rep. Br. Ind., p. 37; Murr. ZooL, 8fc., Sind, 

 p. 256. — The Gavial. 



Dorsal shields in six rows in the middle of the back. Adult males 

 have a large hollow prominence at the end of the snout, in which the 

 nostrils are placed. Grows to 20 feet. 



Hab. — Found in the Indus, N. W. Provinces, Bengal and Ganges 



river. 



Family, VARANID^. 



Water Lizards or Monitors. 



Head with the snout produced, pyramidal, covered with small scale- 

 like, but not imbricate, shields. Teeth acute, compressed. Tongue 

 elongate, slender, terminating in a long fork, retractile into a sheath 

 at its base. Scales small, equal on the sides and on the back and 

 arranged in cross bands. Toes five. Claws on all feet. Tail long, 

 generally compressed. 



Varanus, Merrem. 



Nostrils in an oblique slit, situated in, or nearly in the middle between 

 the eye and the extremity of the snout. Scales elliptic, small, those 

 on the back and on the sides not imbricate, each being surrounded by 

 a small circular, granular fold. Tail vertically compressed, with a crest 

 o£ keeled scales. Throat with a transverse fold. All the species of the 

 genus live on snakes, smaller lizards, toads, frogs, &c. 



Varanus flavescens, Cantor. - Mai. Eep., p. 28 ; Gnnth. Rep. Brit. 

 Ind., p. 65, pi. ix., fig. A. A. Theob. Rep. Brit. Ind., p. 38 ; Murr. Zool. 

 8fc., Sind, p. 256. Monitor flavescens. Gray, Illust. Ind. Zool. c tab. — 

 The Short-toed Water Lizard or The Indian Empagusia. 



Nostrils nearer the nose than eye. Superciliary scales of unequal 

 size, the outer being smaller than the inner. Scales of the upper parts 

 distant, strongly keeled, those of the belly smooth, in 65-70 transverse 

 series between the gular fold and the loins. Colour greenish or brownish 

 olive, with irregular dark markings confluent into cross bands on back 

 and tail. Throat with irregular dark transverse bands. Toes com- 

 paratively smaller than any of its congeners. 

 44 s 



