SrriMKS IN AUSTRALIAN KKl'Tl LKS— KlNdlH H;N. Ill 



Siiiiiiiiiinni. — Having ('(^iiipai-ed the descriptions of llie above species, 

 togetlief witli tliii'ty repi'eseiitatives of D.yiita, I), j'roiitiilix awd I). stii-JiiKji, 

 I have come to the coiicliisioii that all are referable to the one species. 

 Kviilence of the identity of l>. ftntti and I), fi-oiifitlix is afforded by a fresh 

 specimen containing six well developed young' in its oviducts which 

 exhibit features characteristic of both species, whih^ an analysis of all the 

 specimens labelled as 1>. !<nht and l>. I'ri'iitnlif in the Australian Museum 

 collection vei'ifies this evidence. 



An authentic specimen, received by the Austi'alian ^luseum f loni 

 the Horn Expedition collection labelled llnjilnci'jiJiid n--^ ^iirliinji, pioves 

 to have the same characteis as the type of J), f ran talis. According 

 to Lucas and Frost'H descri[)tion, this species lias the temporal shields 

 1 -J- 2, but this is evidently erroneous since their figure and the specimen 

 before me .show them to be 2 -|- '^ ^^ in I), sitta and I). frimtnH^. The 

 identity of h. ftirHinji and D. freiuitu has ali'eady been noted by 

 Boulenger.i 



Finally.it will be shown below^ that T>. fnnifidis xi\Y. jiropi ikjuh is 

 based u[)on an abncn'nial sf)ecimen, and is to be united with IK siila. 



Yahiation. 



Tho X((-'f((J iiiiJ Freoi-iihtr Shiclda. — Two specimens were collected at 

 Willow Tree, New South Wales, and weie found within a few yards of 

 each other. They were of exactly the same size and were mai-ked alike, 

 but one had the nasal separated from the preocular as in J). froiifdJis, 

 while the other, the female carrying the six young, had the extreme point 

 of the nasal in contact with the preocular though not forming quite 

 such a broad suture as in a typical J), svtd. The six unborn young vai-ied 

 as follows: — Three had a very definite and broad point of contact between 

 the. nasal and f)reocnlar shields, which is characteristic of I), siifa ; two had 

 the nasal widely separated from the preocular, thereby allowing the pre- 

 fiontal to form a suture with the second ui)per labial, the charactei- of 

 D. froidaliK ; while one had the shields in contact on one side of the head 

 and separated on the other, thereby bearing the characters of both ]>. s/ifn 

 nvd frniihditf. These facts should prove that this chaiacter is no longer 

 of any value to separate the two species. 



The same vai'iation may be found in a more or less maiked degree 

 throughout the total number of specimens examined ; some have the two 

 shields widely separated, thereby allowing the prefrontal to foi-m a suture 

 with the second uppei- labial ; some have them forming a broad stitui^e 

 at their point of contact, while in others there is only the merest point of 

 contact; a few in the Australian Museum and the Queensland Museum 

 collections have the shields in contact on one side of the head and sepaiated 

 on the other, thereby combining the characters hithei'to assumed to 

 separate the two species. 



Honleiv^pr — Zo(>lo<,aoivl Reoonl. xxvii., 189H, Reptilia. p. 27. 



