1890.] HELODERMA SUSPECTUM. 233 



and centrale, plainly visible throughout lii'e. With three 

 well-ossified bones in the distal row of the tarsus. These 

 represent the tarsalia. 



XV. Concluding Remarks. 



There were two prime objects the Avriter had in view when he 

 undertook the present memoir ; the one was to give an account of 

 the anatomy of the reptile of which it treats, and the second, to 

 point out, if possible, some of the forms to which it was related. 

 Heloderma seemed to be deserving of a more complete cha])ter 

 devoted to its structure than had, prior to the production of thepresent 

 work, been awarded it. How well this has been accomplished it 

 remains for the reader of the foregoing pages to decide for himself. 



With respect to my having succeeded in throwing any light upon 

 the probable affinities of Heloderma, it must be owned that such 

 success as has been attained is by no means as complete as the 

 writer had originally hoped for, and this has brought with it its due 

 measure of disappointment. Failure in this direction has been due 

 principally to the lack of proper material for comparison, material 

 which it was found impossible to obtain, notwithstanding tlie fact 

 that a great manj^ earnest efforts were made to do so. Bocourt (34) 

 has presented us witli a sufficiently complete resume of the opinion 

 of authors as to the affinities of the Helodermalidce down to the year 

 1878, so it will not be necessary to recapitulate that excellent piece 

 of work here. My own studies of the Varanidai convince me of 

 the fact that Heloderma is far removed from that group, having 

 very little structural affinity with it. This applies with equal truth 

 to any true kinship that may have been entertained as existing be- 

 tween the HelodermatidcB and the Iguanidce. 



In so far as my opinions go in reference to such affinities as may 

 exist between two such forms as Lanthanotus boreensis and Heloderma 

 suspectum, they quite agree with those of Mr. Garman, and the 

 affinity in that direction " seems to me rather fanciful." Perhaps 

 a remote affinity may exist between Lanthanotus and the Crocodiles, 

 but such interesting points can only be decided when Curators come 

 to learn one point and practice another. In the first instance the 

 ultimate fate of an important form of reptile should not be to place 

 it in ajar of alcohol, stand it upon a shelf, and then ascertain bow 

 many years it will take to have nearly all its characters rot within a 

 spirit-preserved skin ; and in the second instance, the simple method 

 of ascertaining many of the most important internal characters from 

 such specimens, to the benefit of the specimen and the progress of 

 science, should be more universally indulged in. 



Personally, the writer has compared the skeleton of Heloderma 

 suspectum with the skeleton of Crotaphytus collaris, but there is no 

 affinity in that direction ; and the fact of the matter is, there is far 

 more to remind one of the skeleton of Iguana tuberculata in the 

 osteology of such a species than there is to suggest anything to do 

 with such a radically different type of structure as is presented in the 



