FOSSIL VARANIDAE AND MEGALANIDAE. 
411 
the drawings of which are to be seen on Fig. 14, together with that of a 
maxillary, are unfortunately represented in no very characteristic position, 
so that no positive opinion can be given respecting the accuracy of Lydek- 
ker’s determination, all the less as I could only compare them with those 
of a juvenile individual of a recent V. bengalensis;, however 'taking into 
consideration the great difference 
between the ontogenetic stage of 
this latter and that of the full-sized 
specimens to which the fossil ver¬ 
tebrae might have belonged, I do 
not feel entitled to draw any con¬ 
clusions regarding their identity or 
disparity, a series of differences in 
the skeleton being dependent 
simply on the changes faking place 
during onotogenetical evolution. 
The maxillary represented by Ly- 
dekker is that of a nearly full- 
sized specimen 1 and seems to agree 
well enough with that of the juve¬ 
nile individual at my disposal. I 
would not however consider this 
fossil Monitor from the 
Karnul Caves — provisio¬ 
nally mentioned by me under the name of V. cf. ? bengalensis Daud. 
foss. — as specifically determined, being convinced that no exact 
determination of the fossils can be made without a future 
detailed osteological inquiry in course of which the os- 
teological markings of a 11 Monito r-species inhabiting the respective 
region ought to be conscientiously controlled. 
Hab.: Billa Surgam Caves, Karnul-district of Madras (India). 
cf. ? 
— a 
bengalensis Datjd. 
Right maxillary, 
Fig. 14. Varanus 
foss. — Nat. size. 
b : anterior and c : posterior aspect of a 
dorsal vertebra. — Maxillary from the Char¬ 
nel House, vertebra from the Cathedral Cave, 
(Siwalik Hills). — Ind. Mus. No F. 334. — 
Authors pendrawing after Fig. 10 in Lyd- 
ekker’s «Fauna of the Karnul Caves». 
6. Varanus cf. ? giganteus Gray foss. 2 — Pleistocene (?) 
Varanus sp., Lydekker, Catal. Foss. Rept. Amph. Brir. Mus., Part I, London, 
1888, p. 282. 
Varanus giganteus, Nopcsa, Beitr. z. Kenntn. foss. Eid., Beitr. z. Paläont. Geol. 
Öst.-Ung., Bd. XXl, Wien u. Leipzig, 1908, p. 47. 
1 Fauna of the Karnul Caves, p. 55. 
2 Synonymy only concerning the fossil form. 
