FOSSIL VARANIDAE AND MEGALANIDAE. 
343 
in 1908 under the synonym name of V armus atticus. In 1865 Jourdan 
described in the «Procès Verbaux de la Société d’Agriculture de Lyon» a 
«Eeptile trés voisin du Monitor terrestre d’Egypte» from the Miocene of 
La Grive-Saint -Alban (Isère, France), which was later on also mentioned by 
Depéret in his extensive account given in 1887 on the Miocene Vertebrates 
of the Rhône Valley (Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Lyon, T. IV ême , p. 289). Depéret 
refers to Jourdan’s observation on the subject without being able to opine 
as to its accuracy, as no Monitor remains were included in the material 
examined in Depéret’s work. In 1873 Kornhuber gives us a description 
(«Über einen fossilen Saurier aus Lesina») 1 of « Hydrosaurus (— Varanus) 
lesinensis » from the Neocomian formation, which however Gorjanovió- 
Kramberger 2 ranges in a new genus established by him under the name of 
Poniosaurus, belonging to the family Dolichosauridae Gor.-Kramb. emend. 
Nopcsa. In the same year (1873) Filhol mentions in his «Vert. foss. 
trouvés dans les dépôts de phosphate de chaux de Quercy» 3 some lacer- 
tilian remains under the præoccupied name of Palaeosaurus, provided 
later on 4 (1876) by the author with the denomination of Necrosaurus , 
which later on was again changed by him for that of Palaeovaranus , (see 
further on, under 1877,) being accompanied by illustrations and having 
furnished us a definite description on the matter. In 1876 P. Gervais 5 
describes a fossil under the name of «Varanus (?) margaritice'ps» which in 
1888 is determined afterwards by Lydekker (Fatal, of Foss. Rept. a. 
Ampli. Brit. Mus. Part I, London) as Placosaurus. 6 In 1877 P. Gervais again 
draws our attention in the «Journal de Zoologie» 7 to a femur of «V amnus% 
which is figured in three different views under the name of «Varanus? (d’Ay)» 
(Pl. VI. Fig. 2—2 b ), from the Eocene of Reims, and for which Nopcsa 
(op. ite.) in 1908 proposes the name of «Var anus Lemoine i». Likewise in 1877 
Filhol mentions an under jaw and an extremity from the phosphorites of 
1 Abh. d. k, k. geol. Reichsangt., Wien, Bd. V, p. 75-90, Taf. XX-XXI. 
2 Aigia osaarus dalmaticus, eine neue Eidechse, Soc. histor. nat. Croat., Zagreb 
1892. (From Nopcsa, op. cit.) 
3 Bull. Soc. Philomath., Paris. (According to Nopcsa, op. cit. p. 43 et 34). 
4 Sur les Rept. foss. des Phosph. du Quercy, Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris, 1876. 
5 Zool. et Pal. Générales, Sér. 2, Paris, 1876, p. 60. (According to Lydekker, op. cit.) 
6 This genus was described by Gervais : Zool. et Pal. Françaises, l êre éd., Paris, 
1848 — 52, p. 260. (According to Lydekker op. cit.). — Lydekker, op. cit. p. 279 ranges 
also Placosaurus in the family Anguidae, whereas Nopcsa (op. cit.) together with the 
more recent literature (comp. Broili, op. cit. p. 210) considers it already as a He lo¬ 
de r ma t i cl. Nopcsa (op. cit. p. 44) for priority’s sake changes the specific name used 
by Lydekker of Piacos, margaritice'ps Gerv. into P. rugosus Gerv., it being, according 
to Nopcsa, most likely identical with the former. 
7 Foss, éocènes des environs de Reims. Tome !V èmc «Faits divers», p. 280, 
