FOSSIL VARANIDAE AND MEGALANIDAE. 353 
any disjointed skeleton, all belonging to the same specimen. In studying 
V. griseus Daud.’s caudal vertebrae for instance, we find the cup in the first 
postsacral vertebrae sub r ó t u h d, becoming further ellipsoid; the 34 th 
vertebra’s cup (the atlas included) is still slightly broader than 
its length; the 38 th vertebra presents a 1 most about the co n- 
trary feature, whilst from the 45 th vertebra the cup re gai ns some¬ 
what of its ellipsoid shape until the 50 th , which appears in the form 
of a strongly extended ellipsoid. It is evident therefore 
that the second «difference» rests also merely on a mistake, that is to say 
on a mistaken evaluation of the characters, for which reason «Palaeovaranus 
Filholi De Stefano» may be considered a.synonym of V. Cayluxi Filh. 
About the fossils described by De Stefano, Nopcsa writes as follows (op. 
cit. p. 43): «Der Erhaltungszustand der Deste ist elend und nach meiner 
Ansicht für spezifische Bestimmungen unzureichend.» However considering 
the description of the enumerated remains, as well as the photographs shown 
on the plates of De Stefano’s work, I cannot share in Baron Nopcsa’s opi¬ 
nion, for the vertebræfor instance are in very good condition.. The fault, in 
this matter, does not lie as much in the defective state of the material, as 
with De STefano’s misinterpretation of the impor¬ 
tance of morphological characters. 
Jourdan’s M o n i t o r of La Grive St. Alban, mentioned by Depéret 
(op. cit.) as «Saurien du genre Varanus» might be specifically indentified 
with the Varanus of which I examined an epistropheus originating from 
the same locality and described by me under the name of Varanus cf.? 
Cayluxi Filh. (see Systematic Part). 
The fragment described by Mr. Morelli from the cave at the Arene 
Candide, which I refer to Varanus marathonensis, is highly interesting 
as proving that Varanus still occurred in Europe during the 
Diluvial period, thus contemporary with the primitive Man of our 
continent, being, according to my opinion, throughout improbable that 
the primitive men in having «relazioni di commercio coi popoli della 
costa africana» «da essi avessero avuto l’oggetto di cui si tratta...» 
(Morelli, op. cit. p. 174). On the contrary, I take it for granted that 
Mr. Morelli ’s first supposition on this matter is the right one (op. cit. 
p. 173) : «... si potrebbe sostenere ammettendo, come già dissi, della 
pantera, che qui si trattasse d’un individuo che fosse il residuo d’una 
fauna anteriore sopra vissuta fino all’epoca neolitica per speziali con» 
dizioni della regione.» 
Koger’s Varanus Hof manni however proves again a good species, at 
least inasmuch as not to be indentified with F. Cayluxi , appearing to have 
been moreover perhaps of a somewhat larger size than this latter. Further 
23 
Annales Musei Nationalis Hungarici. XVI. 
