AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 19 



Preiss' Blind Snake. Typhlops prei^si. 



(Plato V, figs. 9, 9a.) 

 Typhlops preissi, Jan. Icon., libr. i, pi. V, fig. 2. 



Scales in 22 rows. 



Tail, 5 lines, being as long as broad. 

 Total length, 17 inches 5 lines. 

 Coloration, grey above, lighter below. Habitat, South-eastern 

 Australia. The typical specimen is in the Museum at Leyden. 



Schmidt's Blind Snake. Ti/phlops bicolor. 



(Plate V, figs. 10, 13, 13a.) 

 Typhlops bicolor, Schmidt, Peters, Monalsher, der Berl. Akad., Wiss., 1860, pi. 81. 

 Jan, Icon., libr. i, pi. IV, V, f. 3. 



Scales in 22 rows. 



Total length, 27 inches 5 lines. 



Tail, 8 lines. 

 Coloration, light brown above, yellowish white below. The typical 

 specimen, obtained in the neighbourhood of Melbourne, is in the Hamburg 

 Museum. 



FAMILY OF COUJBmm^-COLUSEIJ)^. 



The greater number of all the non- venomous snakes belongs to this 

 family, but only two species are recorded from Australia; of these, 

 one inliabits the far north, and is represented in the British Museum by a 

 single individual. The Colubers do not show any peculiar distinguishing 

 characters ; they are generally of a moderate length, with a full rounded 

 body, well-proportioned head, distinct from the neck, and have the cleft of 

 the mouth in the form of a curve. The palate and jaws are well supplied 

 with teeth, but no fangs are produced. The subcaudal plates are two-rowed. 



COEOIJEIjL-A.. 



Coronella, sp., Laurenti. 



Body cylindrical, not compressed, stout ; head of moderate length, 

 rather flat, and distinct from neck, with the snout rounded ; tail of moder- 

 ate length ; eye moderately large, with round pupU. Rostral shield of 

 normal size and form ; two pairs of frontals ; nostril between two nasals ; 

 one loreal, one anterior, and two or three posterior oculars. Scales smooth, 

 in seventeen to twenty-three rows ; subcaudals two-rowed. Posterior 

 maxillary tooth longest, and in a continuous series Avitli the anterior one. 



