328 
SIR R. OWEN ON FOSSIL REMAINS OF MEGALANIA PRISCA. 
transverse one 10 millims., the lateral ridges project from the middle of each side wall ; 
a lower broader ridge rises from the middle of the floor, but subsides as it extends 
along the canal. 
It may be objected that a supply of neural energy to the pair of hind-limbs would 
call for greater space to lodge the expanse of the supplying portion of the myelon; 
but, if the now nearest known ally of Megalania — to wit, the diminutive existing 
Moloch lizard of Australia—be a guide, reference to the figure of its skeleton in the 
37th Plate of the Phil. Trans, for 1880, will not encourage such objection. The lower 
lateral divisions of the neural canal of the present fossil vertebra may have lodged 
the origins of the crural nerves. It seems, probable, from present experience, that 
complete restoration of the great land or fluviatile horned Saurian of Australia will be 
by piecewoirk. The present vertebra, like the subject of Plate 34, tom. cit., exceeds in 
size any such in the skeletons of the existing Crococlilia of the Australian rivers 
which have come under my examination. 
The articular surfaces of the prezygapophyses, z, z, look obliquely upward, inward, 
and slightly backward ; those of the postzygapophyses, z , z , with opposite aspects, 
have suffered abrasion of the hinder border. The broken and abraded surfaces of this 
much-rolled bone expose a close cancellous structure, and the degree of petrifaction 
gives the fossil a massive character and great weight. 
The remains accompanying the above described vertebra are of a foot or feet of 
Megalania; as I cannot determine whether of a “fore” or “hind” limb I term them 
“ metapodials.” 
I was puzzled for a time by the subject of figs. 5-8, Plate 14. A bone as broad as 
long by no means suggested a metacarpal or metatarsal one; yet it was associated 
with others of, unquestionably, a fore or a hind foot. Sufficient of the proximal 
articular surface, fig. 5, a, remained to show it to have been very slightly concave, and 
it was continuous, at right angles, with a narrow flattened facet, elongated in a fore-aft 
direction, fig. 8, a, indicative of a collateral bone. The distal joint, fig. 8, c, forming one 
of the angles of the triangular bone, was entire, and presented a convex condyle which 
bespoke its reception by the proximal articular cup of a toe-phalanx. 
The unusual triangular shape of the present metapodial is due to an extension of 
the entire shaft from the side opposite to that which supports the surface, a in fig. 8, 
and gradually losing breadth as it approaches the distal condyle, c. Along one side of 
the flattened surface there extends a raised, rough, narrow tract, fig. 5, d,f indicative 
of the insertion of a powerful muscle. A broader, oblique, roughened tract, near the 
middle of the opposite side of the shaft, fig. 7, e, gives a similar indication of muscular 
implantation. 
The lateral production of the metapodial shaft gradually loses breadth and thick¬ 
ness, and terminates in an obtuse border, cl, figs. 6, 7, which extends, with a slight 
convex curvature, to the distal condyle, c. The figs. 5-8 of this singular bone may 
dispense with further verbal description. 
