FOSSIL VA: RA NID AE AND MEGALANID AE. 
351 
Upon a detailed examination of Filhol’s figure I find no sufficient 
reason justifying a separation of the above named femur from Varanus 
Cayluxi Filh., to which I therefore refer it (see Text hg. 1 & 2). As far as 
bibliographical notes are concerned respecting Mr. De Stefano’s already 
mentioned publication, a few remarks appear necessary. It must be stated 
that De Stefano commits the fault common to different authors, of 
being most unreliable in the citation of other works; on p. 407 (op. cit.) 
for instance reference is made to Filhol’s description of «Palaeovaranus», 
when in two lines quite a series of mistakes are to be found : De Stefano 
writes 1897 instead of 1877, p. 486 for p. 268, Fig. 435 instead of Fig. 
434. On p. 408 he alludes to two fragments of mandibulars belonging to 
the collection Kossignol, their labels bearing the date: 1877, one 
of these fragments he pretends to be an «osso dentale molto robusto e 
sviluppato ; è quello figurato dal Filhol, e poi riprodotto dallo Zittel , 1 
appartiene ad un animale adulto.» I am sorry to have to observe that: 
firstly, the figure referred to, published by Filhol, is a dentar y, thus 
impossibly identifiable to the above named maxillary (in Zittel, 
1. c.) ; secondly, the Filhol fragments seem to originate from Caylus 
(op. cit.), whilst Zittel’s specimen was collected at Labenque. Further¬ 
more allusion must be made to De Stefano’s Fig. 7 on PL X, which accord¬ 
ing to him represents a tibia of «Palaeovaranus Cayluxi» and Fig. 11., 
PI. X, which is supposed to exhibit the tibia of De Stefano’s « Palaeova - 
ranus Filholi.» The photographs are indistinct and offer no characte¬ 
ristic views of the fossils, not giving thus any clue to an accurate deter¬ 
mination of the bones from them. All that could be established is that 
inasmuch as the bones be really tibiae they cannot belong to the 
same species [i. e. V. Cayluxi (— V. Filholi)]. 
Finally on p. 405 De Stefano alludes to Placosaurus- vertebrae men¬ 
tioned by Lydekker, and draws attention to the fact of a difference exist¬ 
ing between the latter and those which Filhol refers to « Palaeovaranns » 
in his op. cit. Fig. 445—446 : it would be interesting indeed to know where 
De Stefano met with v e r t e b r a e in Filhol’s quoted description, Figs. 
445—446 representing a right femur viewed from two different sides ; 
on the same page (405) De Stefano, with regard to Varanus (— Palaeo¬ 
varanus), alludes to Filhol, p. 268 and 286 ; this latter number is wron g, 
Filhol dèaling on p. 286 with Conchilians ; Varanus is only yet alluded 
to on p. 338, where explanation of figures on PI. 26 is given. 
Ophiosaurier mit gut entwickelten Extremitäten und glaubt, mit diesen zwei Stücken 
das Femur von Palaeovaranus und Plestiodon cadurcensis vereinigen zu müssen.i> 
1 Op. cit. Fig. 540. 
