Fig. 138.–A, Ventral, B, dorsal view of the skull of Varanus griseus. × 1. B.O, Basi-occipital; B.S, basisphenoid; Col, columella auris or stapedial rod; E.P, ectopterygoid; Fr, frontal; Jug, jugal; Lac, lacrymal; N, nasals; Pal, palatine; Par, parietals; Pr.f, prefrontal; Pt.f, postfrontal, fused with postorbital; Ptg, pterygoid (endopterygoid); Q, quadrate; Tb, turbinal; Vo, vomer.
Fam. 8. Varanidae.–Pleurodont Old-World Lizards, with a long, deeply bifid and protractile smooth tongue. They reach a large size, and the neck is relatively much longer than that of other lizards. The limbs are well developed. The skin is covered with very small juxtaposed scales and tubercles above, while the ventral scales are squarish and arranged in transverse rows. Osteoderms are entirely absent. The tail is very long, often laterally compressed. The teeth are large and pointed, dilated at the base. The premaxilla is unpaired and dorsally extends backwards to the likewise unpaired nasal. There is a pair of small supra-orbital bones, easily lost during maceration. The orbit is open behind, the jugal being short and not meeting the postfrontal; the postorbital forms a slender arch with the supratemporal. The vomers are long and diverge posteriorly. The palatines, pterygoids, and ectopterygoids enclose on either side an oval infra-orbital foramen. The Varanidae contain only one genus, Varanus, with nearly thirty species in Africa, Southern Asia, and Australia, but not in Madagascar.
Fig. 139.–Map showing the distribution of the Varanidae.
Varanus.–The name of "Monitor" bestowed upon these creatures has a curious origin, owing to a ridiculous etymological mistake. The Arabic term for Lizard is "Ouaran"; this has been wrongly taken to mean warning lizard, hence the Latin Monitor, one of the many synonyms of this genus, e.g. Hydrosaurus and Psammosaurus. Many of the "Monitors" are semi-aquatic, others inhabit dry, sandy districts, while others are at home in well-wooded localities. They are all rapacious, taking whatever animals they can master according to their size, which in some species amounts to 6 or 7 feet.
V. niloticus inhabits the whole of Africa, except the north-western part. It reaches a length of more than 5 feet. The colour of the adult is brownish or greenish grey above, with darker reticulations and yellowish ocellated spots on the back and limbs. The under parts are yellowish with blackish cross-bands. The ground-colour of the young is black above with yellow lines on the head and neck, and with yellow spots on the back and limbs; the tail has black and yellow bars.
V. salvator ranges from Nepal to Ceylon, Cape York, and Southern China, inclusive of the Malay Islands and the Philippines. This is the largest species, specimens of 7 feet in length being on record. The general colour is dark brown or blackish above, with yellow spots or ocelli. The snout and chin have transverse black lines on a lighter ground. A black band, bordered with yellow, extends from the eye along the side of the neck. The under parts are yellow.
Mr. Annandale has favoured me with the following observations:–"Varanus salvator is common in Lower Siam, where it is equally at home on land, in water, and among the branches of trees. The eggs are laid in hollow tree-trunks. When in the water the lizard swims beneath the surface, the legs being closely applied to the sides, and the tail functioning both as oar and as rudder. Their food is very varied. In the states of Patalung and Singora, in which the Siamese practise a form of tree-burial, these great lizards are accused, probably with justice, of eating the flesh of the corpses in the aërial coffins. I have disturbed a large Monitor devouring the body of one of its own species, which had evidently been dead for some days. Another, which was chased by some men, dropped from its mouth a small flying squirrel (Sciuropterus); a third, which I dissected, had lately swallowed a small tortoise, the hard shell of which had been broken into innumerable fragments. The stomachs of several others contained nothing but dung-beetles, for which Varanus may often be seen hunting, turning over the dung of elephants and buffaloes with its fore-feet. The Malay name of these lizards is Biawak."
According to Mason and Theobald[[163]] all the Varanidae and their eggs are highly esteemed for food, and are sought for in hollow trees with the aid of dogs. If not wanted at once, the wretched creature has its fore-feet bent over its back, a few of its toes are broken and the sinews drawn out and tied into a knot, rendering the animal helpless. The Karens, who are extravagantly fond of the flesh, steal up the tree with a noose at the end of a bamboo, and often noose them while leaping for the water, or catch them in a boat which is brought under the tree. The head, the natives say, is venomous, and they discard it altogether, but the flesh of the other parts, which smells most odiously, is deemed preferable to that of fowls.