The Lizards of Kansas 67 
to get a better understanding of this Kansas report a let- 
ter was written to Prof. Junius Henderson of the Univer- 
sity of Colorado, one of the co-authors of the work in 
which it was printed. Prof. Henderson replied on Septem- 
ber 14, 1926, that ‘‘ Although most of the records in that 
paper which were based on previous reports were fur- 
nished by me from the card index which I had prepared, 
the table was made by Dr. Ellis. I do not know where 
he obtained the Kansas record, as we have no specimens 
of the form from there or elsewhere, and I do not find 
any reference to the record in either our species index 
or Kansas index.’’ Another letter, asking for informa- 
tion concerning the basis of the report in question, 
promptly written to the co-author, Dr. Max M. Ellis, now 
of the University of Missouri, has as yet been neither 
returned nor answered. 
In short, it may be stated that the established range 
of the species has never included Kansas; the lizard is 
absent from Kansas collections; Prof. Henderson is un- 
able to substantiate the report; and Dr. Ellis has offered 
no objections to the questioning of his printed record. 
Therefore, it seems evident that the report was very 
probably a mistake, and that the species, Dipso-sawrus 
dorsalis, should not be regarded as belonging to the Kan- 
Sas fauna. 
Although there are various rumors concerning the dis- 
covery of the gila monster, Heloderma suspectwm, m 
Kansas, there is only one apparently authentic report of 
its capture in the state. A farmer, Mr. Gus Brune, Jr., 
Who lives seven miles northwest of Lawrence, Douglas 
County, is said to have captured a large specimen in his 
hay barn on September 26, 1924. The creature was ac- 
tive and free when taken. It was given to the Kansas 
University Museum by its captor, and remained there 
