58 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAJf MUSEUM. 



Boulenger in London, Peters in Berlin, Schmidt in Hamburg, 

 Schlegel in Leyden, and Jan in Milan : consequently all the type 

 specimens are in Europe, and without direct reference to these 

 the task of determination is no light one ; it is, however, a 

 pity that such valuable material as the large collection of local 

 Tyijldopidoi contained in the Australian Museum should remain 

 year after year uninvestigated, and in taking up the examination 

 of these specimens I therefore propose to publish any points of 

 interest with which I may meet, in the hope that it may be a 

 step in the direction of placing our knowledge of the Australian 

 Typldopicke more on a level with better worked families. 



The Collection in the Museum, although large, is, as might 

 naturally be expected, somewhat local, being composed mainly of 

 individuals collected in New South Wales, more particularly in 

 the neighbourhood of Sydney. As only a few of the species 

 described have been obtained from this Colony, any specimens 

 from other parts of Australia with which we might be favored 

 would be especially valuable. 



In this connection I may mention that the Trustees of the 

 Macleay Museum, Sydney, have very kindly granted me per- 

 mission to examine the extensive collection of Typldojndte 

 formed by the late Hon. Sir William Macleay ; and Mr. C. W. 

 de Vis has generously otlered to place in my hands, for investiga- 

 tion, the examples contained in the Queensland Museum of which 

 he is the Curator. 



Only one species has, I believe, been described in Australia, 

 and it is therefore disappointing to have to point out its identity 

 with a species previously described. 



In all the Ty phlojndce, so far as I am aware, the body scales 

 are arranged in an even transverse series. In the " Records of 

 the Australian Museum," Vol. ii., p. 23, Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby 

 describes a species under the name of Typldops curius, and remarks 

 that it has twenty-three series of scales round the middle of the 

 body. This apparent departure from the usual conditions led me 

 to re-examine the type specimen, when I found the number to be 

 twenty^/'ottr. The species must therefore be referred to Typhlops 

 ligatus, Peters,* with which it agrees in every particular. Peters 

 obtained his specimen from Port Mackay. Ogilby's type is from 

 Walsh River, Gulf of Carpentaria, and I have found in the 

 Museum Collection other examples from Coomooboolaroo, Dawson 

 River. Therefore, so far as is known, this species is confined to 

 Queensland. 



[I have submitted the foregoing note to Mr. Ogilby, who 

 entirely agrees with my remarks, and was not aware of Peters' 

 paper when he wrote his description.] 



* Monatsb. d. K. Akad. d. W. Berlin, 1879, p. 775, fig. 3. 



