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Show 1890.] HELODERMA SUSPECTUM. 233 and centrale, plainly visible throughout life. With three well-ossified bones in the distal row of the tarsus. These represent the tarsalia. XV. CONCLUDING REMARKS. There were two prime objects the writer had in view when he undertook the present memoir ; the one was to give an account of the anatomy of the reptile of which it treats, and the second, to point out, if possible, some of the forms to which it was related. Heloderma seemed to be deserving of a more complete chapter devoted to its structure than had, prior to the production of thepresent work, been awarded it. How well this has been accomplished it remains for the reader of the foregoing pages to decide for himself. With respect to m y having succeeded in throwing any light upon the probable affinities of Heloderma, it must be owned that such success as has been attained is by no means as complete as the writer had originally hoped for, and this has brought with it its due measure of disappointment. Failure in this direction has been due principally to the lack of proper material for comparison, material which it was found impossible to obtain, notwithstanding the fact that a great many earnest efforts were made to do so. Bocourt (34) has presented us with a sufficiently complete resume of the opinion of authors as to the affinities of the Helodermatidce down to the year 1878, so it will not be necessary to recapitulate that excellent piece of work here. M y own studies of the Varanidce convince me of the fact that Heloderma is far removed from that group, having very little structural affinity with it. This applies with equal truth to any true kinship that may have been entertained as existing between the Helodermatidce and the Iguanidce. In so far as my opinions go in reference to such affinities as may exist between two such forms as Lanthanotus boreensis and Heloderma suspectum, they quite agree with those of Mr. Garman, and the affinity in that direction " seems to me rather fanciful." Perhaps a remote affinity may exist between Lanthanotus and the Crocodiles, but such interesting points can only be decided when Curators come to learn one point and practice another. In the first instance the ultimate fate of an important form of reptile should not be to place it in a jar of alcohol, stand it upon a shelf, and then ascertain how many years it will take to have nearly all its characters rot within a spirit-preserved skin ; and in the second instance, the simple method of ascertaining many of the most important internal characters from such specimens, to the benefit of the specimen and the progress of science, should be more universally indulged in. Personally, the writer has compared the skeleton of Heloderma suspectum with the skeleton of Crotaphylus collaris, but there is no affinity in that direction ; and the fact of the matter is, there is far more to remind one of the skeleton of Iguana tuberculata in the osteology of such a species than there is to suggest anything to do with such a radically different type of structure as is presented in the |