REPTILIA : VARANOSAURUS 



87 



many details concerning the sutures especially which are impos- 

 sible to determine with anything like assurance. 



Skull. — Of the three specimens of skull which have so far been 

 prepared, one, that belonging with the mounted skeleton, is a frag- 

 ment consisting of the right maxilla and the corresponding part 

 of the mandible. It is, however, of considerable interest, since the 

 teeth are in good condition. The second specimen, the skull shown 

 in the photograph of the mounted skeleton, lacks the end of the 

 rostrum in front of the hind margin of the nares; the posterior 

 arch supporting the quadrate of the right side is injured, and the 

 left arch and quadrate are lacking; the skull is sUghtly skewed 



Fig. 25. — Varanosaurus brevirostris Williston. Skull, from the side, two- 

 thirds natural size. 



to the right. The third skull, the best of the three, has the region 

 in front of the middle of the orbits very nearly perfect, and but 

 slightly skewed; the left orbit is complete, but the left quadrate 

 is lacking, as also the posterior orbital bar of the right side. The 

 right posterior arch supporting the quadrate is pressed downward 

 and somewhat outward, narrowing the temporal vacuity somewhat; 

 but this bar is shown in apparently normal form in the other 

 skull. The mandibles of both specimens have been crowded up- 

 ward and inward, obscuring the palate so much that no attempt 

 has been made to free this region from its incrusting matrix. 

 Fortunately in both skulls, on both sides, the lower temporal 

 region is nearly or quite uninjured, leaving no doubt as to the 



