96 



OS MKGALANIA AND ITS ALLIES, 



Humerus — 



Fossil 



V. varius. 



m.ra. 



m.m 



Length from radial condyle to tuberosity 



inclusive 

 Breadth at distal end 

 ,, of shaft ... 



170 

 106 



32 



59 

 24 

 7 



Ulna- 



Length ... 



Breadth at proximal end 



258 

 82 



64-5 



13-5 



The humerus of Megalania is therefore approximately — 



3 times as long an I 4J times as broad as that of V. varius. 

 The ulna — 



4 times as long and 6 times as broad as that of V. varius. 



The relative proportions are thus sensibly the same in the two 

 bones, an identity confirming their reference to the same genus. 

 The ulna is from an individual one-third larger than the sometime 

 owner of the humerus. The difference is not greater than that 

 shewn by adult individuals of V. varius which vary from 150 to 210 

 in length. 



Ribs. — With one or two exceptions these are. either devoid of 

 their articular heads, or have them too imperfectly preserved to 

 throw light upon the enquiry. But, fortunately, the proximal end 

 of the most characteristic one of the series, or rather of that one 

 which corresponds to the most differentiated rib-head in Yaranus, 

 is perfect, and would of itself have enabled us to identify associated 

 vertebra? as Varanian, inasmuch as it is unmistakably the pleura- 

 pophysis of the seventh cervical vertebra of. the right side of a 

 lizard closely allied to Varanus. In V, varius the corresponding 

 rib is the only one bearing two distinct tubercles, one on the caudal 

 edge just distad of the neck, the other on the dorsal surface of the 

 neck ; the latter being the termination of a ridge continuous with 

 the rostral edge of the shaft. Not merely in the number, size, and 

 position of these tubercles, but in its general habit, the fossil is an 

 almost exact foreshadow of the recent bone. 



To the writer then, it seems indubitable that these bones are 

 from the skeleton of a lizard of the family Varanidas — consequently 



