69 



by the teeth being firmly fixed along the very ridge of each 

 jaw, instead of having an insertion in a lateral furrow. The 

 first discovery of the true characters of the Istiurus is due to Mr. 

 Gray, who instituted a genus for the reception of this species, and 

 also of two others allied to it, (one of these being the Physignathus 

 Cocincinus of Cuvier,) under the title of Lophura. In the last edi- 

 tion of the R^gne Animal, Cuvier, though he admits the justness of 

 Mr. Gray's views respecting the Amboina Lizard, still retains the 

 "•enus Physignathus for the Cochin Chinese one, but he changes 

 the term Lophura into Istiurus ; his reason being that the word Lo- 

 phura approaches too nearly the term Lophyrus already applied by 

 Daudin to a diiferent genus. MM. Dumeril and Bibron adopt the 

 generic title proposed by Cuvier, and also receive into the genus the 

 Physignathus Cocincinus, under the title Istiurus Physignathus ; they 

 add, moreover, a third species under the name of Istiurus Lesueuri, 

 originally described by Mr. Gray as the Lophura Lesueuri. Mr. 

 Martin observed, that the presence of the elevated fan at the base 

 of the tail, which occurs only in the males of Istiurus Atnboinensis, 

 was a circumstance of interest, inasmuch as it involves a structural 

 difference between the osteology of both sexes. In the common 

 Water Newt, the male of which acquires fanlike membranes at a 

 certain season of the year, the membrane is unsupported by an 

 osseous frame-work, and is deciduous, or rather temporary ; but in 

 this animal, while the use of such a fan may be in all probability 

 connected with sexual functions, it is a persistent appendage. The 

 locality from which the specimens were derived gives them addi- 

 tional value. 



The next species to which Mr. Martin requested the attention of 

 the meeting was a Varanus from the Isle of Mindanado, which he 

 regarded as hitherto undescribed. 



This Varanus, he observed, appeared to be closely allied to Va- 

 ranus chlorostigma, Dum. and Bibr., differing, nevertheless, materi- 

 ally in the character of the scales of the body, and in the distribu- 

 tion of its markings. As in Varanus chlorostigma and Var. hivittatus, 

 the suborbital scales consist of a crescent of plates, broader than 

 long, encircled by small plates, which latter cover the suborbital 

 margin. The nostrils are rounded, and placed on each side of the 

 muzzle rather nearer the apex than in Var. chlorostigma ; the teeth 

 are also compressed with sharp edges very minutely dentated ; the 

 head is more produced than in Var. chlorostigma, being, in this re- 

 spect more like that of Var. hivittatus ; and the scales are larger, 

 coarser, and more irregular. 



For this new Varanus, Mr. Martin proposed the name of Varanus 

 Cumingi. 



Varanus Cumingi. Varan, caudd compressd, naribus fere rO' 

 tundatis et rostri apicem versus jiositis ; lamellis suhorbitalibus 

 incequalibus, septem vel octo ceteris quoad magnitiidinem prce- 

 stantibus latissimis, lineamque semilunarem efficientibus ; dentibus 

 compressis, acutis, et delicate serratis ; corpore supra vigro, 

 gultis ocellisque Jlavis ornato; abdomine aurantiaco. 

 Hah. apud Insulam Mindanado. 



