150 RECOIU»S OF THK AlISTRArJAN MUSKCM. 



Colour iintrkiiiyK. — Tlie dark cross bands on tlie body ai-e fjeiierally 

 very distiuct ; in some of the darkec specimens tbey t'orni more or less 

 irie<;nlar mottlings, but can iievei'tlieless be easily counted. In otliers, iu 

 wliicli tlie body coloui' lias become somewhat bleached tlu-onji'li the 

 action of pi'eservative, the dark cross bands stand oat very clenrly. One 

 S|)ecimeu has as man\' as sixty-nine of these bands, two others have fifty- 

 nine and sixty respectively, five have less thai) fifty, while eighteen others 

 have round about fifty-three. 



Ahvnruud gpecimens. — A few specimens have extra, or abnormHl head 

 shields, and may have thi'ee postoculars on one side and two on the other, 

 while one specimen has three on each side. There also may be a small 

 extra temporal, situated either anteriorly or posteriorly fo the normal ones. 



Two specimens from Moree, New South Wales, are veiy much 

 swollen round the body through the presence of eggs. The head is con- 

 siderably j)uf¥ed behind the temporal regions, probably through the 

 action of preservative on the tissue, and the general appearance is there- 

 fore not unlike that possessed b\' Ai-n)iilii>p]ii)<^. In one of these specimens, 

 the frontal, if placed crosswise upon itself, would I'each fiom one of its 

 lateral bordei-s to the outer edge of the opposite supraoculai', and it is not 

 as long as its distance from the end of the snout. In the othei- it is 

 longer than its distance fi-om the end of the snout and if placed crosswi.se 

 upon itself would reach almost to the outei" edges of both supraoculars. 

 In the lattei' specimen the prefiontals have divided info four sepai-ate 

 sliields ; in the formei', the fifth upper lal)ial has completely divided into 

 two, making seven for that side of the head. In all other ies{>ects tliese 

 abnoi'mal specimens agree with the series examined. 



The status of Dknim.-ki. aphis mHi.k.nckkui, 0>jiUni. 



(Plate XX vi., Hgs. 1-;^). 



Dkm>i;h:lafhis schi.knckkim, Ogilbv, Proc. Linn. Soc. X.S. Wales, xxiii., 

 3, 1898, J). 3(n, Hg. 



Having occasion to examine the type of the above species, which is in 

 the Austr.ilian Museum, 1 found it to be identical with a well-known 

 8[>ecies of a different genus, viz. I h'iiiliiiji/il.< culJ'ninxter, (iiinther'', and 

 on referring to my catalogue 1 found a note by the late Dene B. Fry to 

 the following effect — " Australian Museum 21, xi., 1910. — Mi. T. Steel, 

 who was responsible foi" the procuring of the ty[)es of this species, took 

 liome some co-types t.o Mr. Bouleugei- who said they were a well-known 

 sftecies, and not even in the righl genus." As I cannot find any reference 

 to this sj)ecies in literature, other than that quoted above, I am taking 



•'■' It inijjjht be as well to uientiou liere, that on .several occasion.-; when 

 enquirers have l)rougiit I), mandulu var. ilcrisi, to lue for ideutitieatit)!!, they iiave 

 }>eeu under the impression that it was the Deatli Adder, Acnittho^ihh ontntcfinis. 



« Giinther — Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 1867, xx. (:<). p. 5.S, and Boiilon<jer. Brit. Mas. 

 Cat.. Snakes, 1894, Vol. ii., p. Ho. 



