494 SAURIANS. 



borders of lakes and rivers, to attack quadrupeds which unsus- 

 pectingly approach to quench their thirst." M. Dumeril quotes 

 Latour as saying that he had "seen them hunt down a young 

 deer which was crossing a river, and succeed in drowning him;" 

 and, on one occasion, had "found a bone of the thigh of a sheep 

 in the stomach of one of these animals which he dissected." 



No evidence exists that they ever attempt to injure man unless 

 previously molested by him. 



Such are the animals which, in certain parts of their organ- 

 ization, bear the closest resemblance to the extinct Saurians. If 

 the habits attributed to these Varans bear any relation to those 

 of the Saurians now swept from the earth, then " we might have 

 in those annihilated giants, no bad representatives of the dragons 

 of our wildest legends." 



The species of this family are not numerous, though widely 

 distributed. But one belongs to the North America, viz : the 

 Mexican HeJoderma, Heloderma horrida, one of the Aquatic 

 Varans. In Mexico, the belief is general, but erroneous, that the 

 bite of this species is fatal. Others are found in Asia, Africa, 

 and Oceanica. Only two species of Terrestrial Varans are 

 known ; one is peculiar to the island of Timor, (F. Timor iensis ;) 

 the other is 



The DESERT VARAN OF EGYPT, V. arenarius, the Ouaran-el- 

 hard of the Arabs, about three feet in its total length. It is 

 less active than the aquatic species, and especially than that in- 

 habiting the Nile. 



The VARAN OF THE NILE, V.Niloticus or Monitor Niloticus, 

 Nilotic monitor, is a noted aquatic species, attaining the length 

 of five or six feet, and common in the Nile. It u as held in 

 great veneration by the ancient Egyptians, probably, says Cuvier, 

 because it destroyed the eggs of the Crocodile, of the approach of 

 which it is said to warn persons by a hissing noise, and hence 

 was called monitor. There are several conspicuous fossil Sau- 

 rians, some of which seem to be allied to the Varans, and which 

 are represented in the Cretaceous (Lat. creta, chalk) system of 

 the United States, 



(1) The Geosaurus, (Gr. ge, the earth, sauros, a saurian.) 

 This name was given to this fossil by Cuvier, not in reference to 

 its habits as a living animal, as it was no doubt aquatic, but in 

 "allusion to the earth, the Ge (TTj) of the Greeks, as the fabled 

 mother of the Giants." Remains of this animal were first ob- 

 tained from the white lias, at Manheim, Franconia. According 

 to DeKay, remains have also been found in the marl of the green 

 sand in New Jersey, and named G. Mitchelli, after the late Dr. 



