Zoology.] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. [Reptilia. 



Plate 108. 



TYPHLOPS NI'GRESCENS (Gray sp.). 

 The Blackish Australian Worm-Snake. 



[Genus TYPHLOPS (Schneider). (Sub-kingd. Vertebrata. Class Reptilia. Order 

 Opbidia. Tribe Scolecopbidia. Fain. Typhlopsidse.) 



Gen. Char. — Cylindrical, glossy; head not constricted from body; front margin obtusely 

 rounded from above downwards ; rostral plate very large, extending over top of head ; nasal 

 plates extending vertically from labials to above eye, divided by a sulcus extending from nostril ; 

 prcocular plate usually present, oculars larger than preocular, with the eye seen through them 

 when it exists ; upper labials usually 4 ; scales hexagonal, imbricated, alike on back, sides, 

 and abdomen ; preanal scales numerous, and like the ventrals. Teeth simple, 3 or 4 in upper 

 jaw only. Tongue long, flat, forked at tip. Mouth small, lunate, inferior.] 



Description. — Body smooth, flossy, cylindrical, of nearly equal diameter 

 throughout, and covered with 22 rows of hexagonal scales, the posterior edge of 

 each nearly semicircular and much imbricated. Tail very short, of the 12 last 

 scales, obtusely rounded and bent downwards at the end, so that the terminal thorn 

 arises nearlv on a level with the ventral surface and inclines downwards. Head 

 narrower than the body, depressed, obtusely rounded in front both vertically and 

 transversely ; rostral plate large, margin broadly rounded on top of head behind, 

 slightly concave towards front, and narrowed to edge of lip below; nasal plate rising 

 from 1st labial, widening to edge of snout, and narrowing upwards to inter-nasal 

 plate behind rostral ; nostril below lateral margin, with a sulcus dividing the plate 

 into two below, where it touches the middle of the 1st labial ; the nasal sulcus extends 

 vertically upwards beyond the nostril rather further than below ; 2nd labial a little 

 larger than first, touching nasal and preocular plate; 3rd labial larger, and extending 

 up between bases of preocular and ocular plates ; ith labial largest, rounded, and 

 with a small notch on lower hind margin. The three anterior, median, vertex plates, 

 taken together, about two-thirds the length of the dorsal part of rostral plate ; the 1st, 

 or inter-nasal plate, largest, sub-hexagonal, the posterior margin nearly semicircular; 

 2nd, or frontal, smallest, hexagonal ; 3rd, or occipital, in size and shape nearly like 

 the 1st; they and the labial ones are larger, but nearly like the scales of the body. 

 Preocular narrower than the ocular, the eye distinctly seen through the upper part 

 of their junction, below the re-entering angle for the fronto-nasal plate. Color: 

 Twelve rows of scales on back and sides, each greyish-brown on posterior two-thirds, 

 whitish on anterior third, generally paler and browner towards the head ; lateral 

 portions of anterior head shields and all the scales of lower side of body yellowish 

 in some specimens, greyish-white in others ; the coloring of the scales of back is 

 seen through the transparent overlapping ones in front. Length of average speci- 

 men, 21 inches 6 lines; of tail, 4 lines ; diameter at base of tail, 5^ lines, in both 

 directions ; diameter in both directions about middle of body, 7 lines ; length of 

 head from front edge of snout to hind edge of third median (occipital) plate, 4^ 

 lines ; width of head, 4 lines. 



Reference. — Anilios id. Gray, C. Liz., B.M. p. 135=Typhlop3 id. Jan. Icon., 

 Gen. des Ophid., p. 13; Liv. 9, t. 1, f. 1; ?= T. Ruppelli, Jan. Op. Cit., t. 1, f. 2. 



The " Slow- Worms" or "Blind- Worms" of English writers, and 

 their numerous allies in various foreign countries, are very difficult 

 to classify, from their having several characters of Lizards combined 



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