Miscellaneous. 181 



metre. 



Transverse proximal diameter of femur -024 



Antero-posterior diameter of head of femur -018 



Transverse diameter of shaft of femur -015 



Vertical diameter of shaft of rib •008 



„ ,, rib at tubercle -016 



„ „ rib at head '006 



Transverse diameter of tubercle of rib -008 



Proximal width of phalange '014 



Proximal depth of phalange -007 



Length of same phalange -010 



The remains indicate an animal more robust than any existing 

 lizard, but probably not so long as some of the larger Varani. 



Clepsydrops Collettii, Cope. 



Generic characters. — This genus reposes on a series of vertebrae, 

 which includes cervicals, dorsals, and caudals ; associated with these 

 are proximal ends of ribs, a coracoid bone, and some phalanges, 

 which are provisionally referred to the same. They bear the same 

 relation of size to the vertebrae that the corresponding bones do to' 

 the vertebrce of the Cricotus heteroclitus, and have a proportionatelv 

 more slender form, like the vertebrae in Clepsydrops. They belong 

 in any case to an allied form. 



The vertebrae on which the genus reposes are more elongate than 

 the corresponding ones of Cricotus. They are deeply biconcave, the 

 articular cavities being funnel-shaped and continuous, thus perfo- 

 rating the entire length of the centrum. In a dorsal vertebra the 

 cavities communicate by a very small orifice, while in the posterior 

 the median contraction of the canal is less marked. The posterior 

 cavity is more gradually contracted than the anterior ; in the latter 

 the excavation is, in most of the vertebra?, but slight (except beneath 

 the lloor of the neural arch), until it falls rather abruptly into the 

 axial perforation. In an anterior (?) dorsal it is as widely excavated 

 at the border as the posterior funnel. Another peculiarity is the 

 absence of processes of the centrum : and a small capitular articu- 

 lation is seen sessile on the border of the cup of two of the dorsals. 



The axis has a singular form, owing to the tubular perforation 

 which continues the posterior excavation to the anterior face of the 

 centrum. There are three articular faces — a larger subround inferior, 

 and two smaller superior, which border the neural canal in front and 

 below, and are separated from each other and the inferior face by 

 the perforation in question. The anterior face slopes obliquely 

 backwards and downwards, and is convex in transverse section. 

 There is no facet for the free hypapophysis of the odontoid ; but it 

 appears that the inferior articular face was applied exclusively to 

 the centrum of the atlas, as in Sphenodon. But the axis differs 

 from that of the latter genus in the absence of a coossified odontoid 

 process. Either that element is altogether wanting, or it consists 

 of two pieces, interrupted in the middle by the notochordal foramen, 

 and in correspondence with the superior articular facets. There is 

 no true hypapophysis of the axis ; and the only indication of lateral 



