360 Mr. G. A. Boulcnger on neio Typlilopicloi. 



their preparation for publication would be only a work of a 

 few hours ; but these notes are a very small fraction of the 

 whole. 1 wonder that Mr. Butler did not write to rac and 

 ask for his notes, instead of for the first time intimating- his 

 dissatisfaction in this extraordinary manner. Since, how- 

 ever, he prefers this mode of procedure, I will mention that 

 I am returning his notes only a few hours after first seeing 

 his paper. 



There is nothing in Mr, Butler's notes of 1887 or in the 

 few remarks he makes in the paper to which I am replying 

 which tends to " mystify " the subject. It has always been 

 admitted that one animal may eat what another refuses. The 

 effect which such colours and patterns as those of Zcuzera 

 cesculi would have upon an insectivorous animal has been 

 abundantly shown in my paper (/. c. p. 236). Mr. Butler's 

 conclusions as to the larva of Stauropus fagi seem to me to 

 be quite valueless in the absence of direct evidence, while the 

 presumption is the other way. Insect-eating animals cer- 

 tainly keenly relish spiders, but they are nevertheless often 

 afraid of spiders of a size such as S. fagi suggests. It is 

 characteristic of the whole spirit of Mr. Butler's paper that 

 he should ridicule my extension of II. Muller's interpretation 

 of the attitude assumed by S. fagi so far as it may be supposed 

 to api)ly to birds — a supposition to which I did not even allude 

 — and that he should omit to mention the actual proofs which 

 I obtained that alarm is caused by its attitude in the case of 

 other animals (marmoset and lizard). Those who are inter- 

 ested in investigating a specimen of Mr. Butler's method of 

 controversy would do well to compare his remarks on the 

 spider-like attitude of 8. fagi with my experiments and con- 

 clusions on the same subject (Trans. Eut. Boc. 1888, pp. 583- 

 586). 



Oxford, 

 Oct. 4, 1889. 



XL VIII. — Descriptions ofneio Typhlopida) in the British 

 Museum. By Gr. A. Boulenger. 



Helminthophis Petersii. 



Rostral half the width of the head, extending to between 

 the eyes, truncate posteriorly, and forming a broad suture with 

 the frontal ; two superposed priooculars and a subocular ; eye 



