THE BLIND BURROWING SNAKES. 55 
FaAMILy II. GLAUCONIDZ. 
These snakes are very similar in general structure to the 
former family (Typhlopideg), and their habits are more or less 
alike. They are placed in a separate family because they are 
anatomically somewhat different, viz. they have teeth in the lower 
jaw only, the upper jaw being quite toothless. They possess four- 
teen rows of scales round the body. The typhlops snakes, on the 
contrary, have teeth in the upper jaw, but none in the lower 
jaw, and they have at least eighteen rows of scales round their 
bodies. The Glauconide snakes are blunt-tailed like the former 
family, and are, like their cousins, often popularly termed ‘“‘ Two- 
Fic. 24.—A lifeesize Glauconia or Blind Burrowing Snake (Glauconia nigricans). 
headed Snakes.’ People have occasionally brought snakes to 
me, and were in a very excited state, claiming to have discovered 
a snake with a head at each end of the body. In all cases they 
turned out to be Blind Burrowing Snakes. Like the former 
family, the Glauconide are all quite non-venomous, and make 
most interesting pets. These Burrowing Snakes are very useful 
in the economy of Nature in keeping down the too rapid increase 
of insect life. 
There are about thirty species of these snakes, six species of 
which are known to inhabit South Africa. 
