649 
described in detail. The extinct species differs from its living representative, Dr. 0. 
Bennett says, by possessing a shorter, more obtuse, and higher head. On the other 
hand, Mr. E. Lydekkor states that it does not show any characters by which it can be 
distinguished from the living species. . . 
Zoc and Horizon. Gowrie Station, Darling Downs (G. F. Bennett)— 
deposits. 
Pamily — VAEANIDJE. 
Qenus—MFaALANIA, Owen, 1858.* 
(Proc. R. Soc., ix., p. 273.) 
Megalania peisca, Owen. 
Megalania prisca, Owen, Proc. R. Soc., 1858, ix., p. 273. . t,. n 
„ Owen, Phil. Trans., 18(i0, cxlix., p. 43, t. 7, f. 1-4, t. 8, f. 1-4 ; IbA, 1881, clxxi , Pt 3 p. 
1037, t. 34, f. 1-2, t. 35, ft. 1-4, t. 36, f. 1-2; 1880, clxxyii., Pt. 1, p. 3-7, t. 13. 
Megalania (? Varanus) prisca. Smith Woodward, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1888, i., p. 89. 
Varanus priscas, Lydekker, Cat. I’oss. Reptilia and Amphibia Brit. Mus., 1888, 1 1. , p. • 
? Megalania (VertebriB, ribs, fibula, and ulna) De Vis, Proc. R. Soc. Queensland, 1889, vi., 1 s. an , p. 
Ohs. The above name was originally applied by bir Richard Owen to three 
vertebrse of a land lizard surpassing in bulk the largest existing species, and equal in 
size to those of the largest living Crocodiles, representing au individual of not less than 
twenty feet in length. Prof. Owen arrived at these conclusions by a comparison of 
measurements between the fossils and similar parts of the great Lace Lizard of 
Australia, Varanus {Hydrosaurus) giganteus. Gray. The vertebrse in question were 
obtained on a branch of the Condamine Eiver, and were purchased for the British 
Museum. . • j 
The second contribution to our knowledge of this peculiar lizard contained 
descriptions of an entire dorsal vertebra from the Darling Downs, forwarded to Sir E. 
Owen by Dr. George Bennett; some sacral vertebra;, a,nd an expanded end of a 
scapula from the neighbourhood of Melbourne, obtained by Mr. P. M. Uaynal; caudal 
vertebra from Gowrie, Darling Downs, from Mr. St. Jean, with the occipital segment 
of the skull from the same locality ; and lastly the anterior portion of a skull found by 
Mr. G. P. Bennett, in 1871, at King’s Creek, Darling Downs. Subsequent 
including the last discovery, other bones were referred to Megalania by Sir Eichar 
Owen, but unfortunately in his earnest and enthusiastic zeal he united under one name 
remains from widely separated localities, and obtained at irregular intervals. The 
oversight which Prof. Owen committed in this respect has been unravelled with 
marked ability by Mr. Smith Woodward, and I cannot do better than quote his remarks 
in extenso. Speaking of the cranium found by Mr. G. P. Bennett, he says ^ e a er 
fragments were AypofAeiicafly assigned to the same genus and species t as e origina 
fossils discovered in 1858, and the presence of bony horn-cores upon the skull led to a 
comparison with the small Australian Moloch /jorrif/ws, w'hich is a so qirovi e wi 
dermal horns, though never of an osseous character. A restoration of Megalania was 
given upon the assumption that the extinct and surviving types were closely allied, in 
1881 a tail completely ensheathed in bony armour like that of Glygtodon, was found a,t 
the same spot in King’s Creek whence had been obtained the fine portion ot skull 
described in the previous year, and this, too, was determined J as belonging to what 
had now become knowm as the ‘Great Horned Lizard.’ TJromastix from 
Zanzibar, was next compared with the fossil, and Sir Richard Owen poin e ou 
* Restricted, Smith Woodward, 1888. 
t I.e., Megalania prisca. 
± Phil. Trans., 1881, clxxii., Pt. 2, p. 547, t. 64. 
