ORDER SQUAMATA. 



II4I 



those of the existing Diplog/ossus, and the limbs were well de- 

 veloped. Another Anguoid, with blunt cylindrical teeth, from the 

 Quercy Phosphorites, was originally referred to the Scincoid genus 

 Eumeces (Plestiodo?^, but its generic position must for the present 

 remain undecided. In North 

 America we have Glyptosau- 

 rus, from the Bridger Eocene 



of Wyoming, in which the /* "\\s^W4? 



vertebrae have rudimental (l£Sm*W teJB^Li c ^fe 

 zygosphenes ; the large Sa- 



mva, Of Which the dermal Fig . I044 ._ Ve rtebra of Placosaurus margariti- 



SCUteS are Unknown ; and ce P** viewed from the haemal, anterior, and lateral 



' aspects; from the Upper Eocene Phosphorites of 



the apparently allied XestOpS Central France, c, Costal tubercle. 



(Oreosaurus). The vertebrae 



of these genera, like those of existing Atiguidce, present a strong 

 resemblance to those of the next family, as may be seen by com- 

 paring fig. 1044 with fig. 1045. 



Family Varanid^e. — The Monitors include the largest known 

 Lizards ; one of the fossil species attaining a gigantic size. They 

 are confined to the Old World and Australia ; and appear to be 

 unknown before the Pliocene. The skull has no postorbital bar ; 

 the supratemporal fossae are not roofed over by bony scutes ; and 

 both the premaxillae and the nasals are united. The dentition is 

 pleurodont ; and the teeth are large and pointed, and confined to 

 the jaws. The vertebrae are characterised by their broad and flat 

 centra (fig. 1045) ; and dermal scutes are wanting. All the known 

 forms may be included in the single genus Varanus. 



In existing forms the dorsal vertebrae are elongated, and have broad 

 neural spines ; and the largest species attains a length of seven feet. In 

 a fossil state this group is represented 

 by remains from the Pleistocene of Ma- 

 dras apparently referable to the living 

 V. bengalensis. Other vertebras, again, 

 found in the corresponding cave-de- 

 posits of Queensland, not improbably 

 belong to one or more of the species 

 still inhabiting that region. In a 

 second and extinct group the dorsal 

 vertebras are relatively shorter and 

 wider, and have narrower neural spines ; 

 the two known species being of very 

 large size. The smaller of the iwo is 

 V. sivalensis, from the Pliocene of the 

 Siwalik Hills of India, of which a dor- 

 sal vertebra is shown in fig. 1045. Another vertebra is, however, larger 

 than the figured specimen ; and the total length of the animal was prob- 

 ably at least twelve feet. These dimensions were, however, greatly ex- 

 ceeded by the huge V. priscus, of the Pleistocene of Australia, in which 



Fig. 1045. — Haemal aspect of a dorsal 

 vertebra of Varanus sivalensis ; from the 

 Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills. 



