25 



Notes on Australian Typhlopid^:. 



By Edgar R. Waite, F.L.S., Zoologist, Australian Museum, 



Sydney. 



[Read April 6, 1897.] 



Plate III. 



The present contribution is the outcome of an examination of 

 specimens sent to me from the South Australian Museum by the 

 Director, Dr. E. C. Stirling. Further particulars will be included 

 in a future article. When all available material has been 

 examined, I propose to write on the distribution of the family in 

 Australia, but for the present content myself with the descrip- 

 tion and illustration of a new and interesting species and some 

 remarks on the identity of other forms. 



9*. Typhlops pinguis, sp. nov. 



Habit very stout, of tolerable even thickness. Head short ; 

 snout fairly prominent with rather sharp edge. Rostral, above 

 half the width of the head, extending nearly to the level of the 

 eyes, slightly narrowed in front, the portion visible from beneath 

 a little broader than long; nasal incompletely divided, the fissure 

 extending from the anterior half of the second labial ; nostrils 

 inferior; preocular narrower than the ocular, in contact with the 

 second and third labials. Eye distinct. Four upper labials. 

 Diameter of the middle of the body about two and twenty times 

 in the total length. Tail as long as broad, ending in an obtuse 

 spine. Twenty scales round the body. 



Colors. — In spirits, brownish-yellow above, somewhat lighter 

 beneath. 



Dimensions. — Total length, 348 mm. Length of head, 8 mm.; 

 width of head, 10 mm. Width of body, 15*5 mm. Length of 

 tail, 12*5 mm.; width of tail, 12*5 mm. 



Hob. — South Australia, one example. 



Type. — In the South Australian Museum. 



* Previous species-numbers were published as follows : — 1-3. Records 

 Austr. Mus. II. (1893), pp. 57-62, pi. XV. 4-8. Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S.W., 

 IX. (1894), pp. 9-14, pi. T. 



