60 RECORDS OF THE AXTSTRALIAN MTJSETJM. 



out by Peters with regard to T. preissi and other species* they 

 are not absolutely reliable. 



It appears highly probable that Peters had never seen an 

 example of T. ruppelli when he stated its identity with T. 

 nigrescens, but like Prof. McCoyf had considered that Jan des- 

 cribed the species from an example of T. nigrescens; probably one 

 in which the anal spots were well marked. 



3. Typhlops proximus, sp. nov. 



[Plate XV., Figs. 1 - 4.] 



Habit stout, thickened posteriorly. Snout very prominent, with 

 acute margin. Rostral more than half the width of the head, ex- 

 tending almost to the level of the eyes, narrowed in front and 

 below ; the portion visible from beneath longer than wide ; nasal 

 incompletely divided, the fissure extending from the first labial to 

 the upper surface of the snout ; nostrils inferior, close to the 

 margin of the snout ; preocular narrower than the ocular ; nasal 

 the widest. Eye very distinct, situated in the angle between the 

 preocular and supraocular. Internasal, supraoculars and parietals 

 enlarged. Four upper labials. Diameter of the middle of the 

 body thirty-five times in the total length. Tail, not longer than 

 broad, terminating in a short stout spine. Twenty scales round 

 the body. 



Colors. — Variable in spirits, generally brownish-olive to greyish- 

 brown above, each scale margined with yellow, lower surfaces 

 yellow ; sometimes a more or less distinct small brown patch on 

 each side of the anus. 



Dimensions. 



Total length 



Length of head 



Width of head ... 



Width of body ... 



Length of tail 



Width of tail 



Habitat. — New South Wales and Victoria. Several specimens. 

 Type. — In the Australian Museum, Sydney. Reg. No. 64n. 



There should be no difiiculty in distinguishing T. proximus from 

 the other Australian species ; the character of the nasal fissure 

 being in contact with the first labial and produced on to the 

 upper surface of the snout is common only to three other species, 



•Archiv. fur. Naturg. 1862, p. 35 (not 1861, Zool. Eecord, i.) 

 t Prod. Zool. Victoria, ii., p. 9. 



