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Show the Indian Rhinoceros which had recently died in the Gardens after an existence there of forty-one years. 2 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE CRANIAL [ J a n . 1 7 , The following papers were read :- 1. Some Notes on the Cranial Osteology o£ the Mastigure Lizard, Urornastix. B y F rank E. B ed d ar d , M .A ., F .R .S ., Prosector to the Society. [Received December 13, 1904.] (Text-figures 1-4.) During a recent examination of a number of Reptilian skulls, I noted some features in the palate, as well as in other regions of the skull, of Urornastix spinipes which are undoubtedly of some interest. The most recent papers on the skull of Urornastix with which I am acquainted are by Busch * and Siebenrock t. The former writer deals only with the palatal region and principally with the soft tissues of that region in the Lacertilia and in Hatteria. A number of dry skulls are also figured, and among them Urornastix, with which figure, however, .my own observations do not agree completely. It must be remembered, however, that Dr. Buscli and I had before us different species, he dealing with Urornastix hardwickii and I with U. spinipes. Whether age may have anything to do with these differences I do not know; but in any case the skull of Urornastix spinipes, upon which I report here, measures 43 mm. from the occipital condyle to the tip of the premaxilUe, which agrees pretty well, as do the other measurements of the body, with those given by BoulengerJ for this species, which is considerably larger than Urornastix hardwickii. Dr. Busch describes the bony palate of Urornastix in the following way, and his figure corresponds with that description. The two pterygoids are divided by a suture from each corresponding palatine, which has a very oblique course. This results in the cutting off of a large piece of each palatine from approximation in the middle ventral line of the skull. In this there is a difference from the allied Calotes and Iguana, both figured by that author; in fact a dissimilarity from the Lacertilia in general. Inasmuch, however, as this is but a very slight exaggeration of the usual obliquity of this suture among the Agamidse and some other lizards, the author of the paper to which I refer does not lay any stress upon it. Dr. Siebenrock does not figure the skull of this genus ; nor does * " Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Ganmenbildung bei den Reptilien," Zool. Jahrb. (Abtli. f. Anat.) xi. p. 441 (1808). f " Das Skelet der Agamidai," SB. k. Akad. Wiss. Wien, civ. p. 1112 (1895). £ Catalogue of Lizards in B. M. vol. i. p. 407 (1885). |