Part II. 



AUSTRALIAN SNAKES. 



BLIND SNAKES. 

 Family TYPHLOPIDjE. 



Not infrequently disturbed in the ground by spade, 

 lioe, or plough ; these harmless little snakes are often 

 mistaken for worms, and are sometimes called blind 

 worms. They are round bodied reptiles, with a short, 

 indistinct heaj, and short tail, which latter terminates 

 in a thorn-like point, used mainly in progression. The 

 hinder is generally thicker than tlie front portion 

 of the body, the whole of which is covered with highly- 

 polished scales, so as to offer slight resistance to their 

 progress in the earth. The head is usually covered 

 with large plates ; and the eyes are almost, or quite 

 hidden, each by a large scale ; hence, as both their 

 scientific and common names indicate, they are, perhaps, 

 incapable of distinguishing much more than light from 

 dark. The eye has probably degenerated, owing to 

 disuse, such an organ being of little avail in subterranean 

 existence. These snakes cannot stretch their mouths ; 

 they have no teeth in the lower jaw; and there are 

 vestiges of Jiind limbs hidden beneath the skin ; there 

 ■are no enlarged scales on the lower surface of the body, 



