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ON A NEW BLIND SNAKE FROM LIFU, LOYALTY ISLANDS. 



The single specimen has been presented to the British Museum by Dr Willey. 



By its technical characters, this species approaches nearest Typhlops acuticauda, 

 Peters, from the Pelew Islands, and T. aluensis, Blgr., from the Solomon Islands, both 

 of which differ, among other points, in the narrower praeocular shield and the much 

 more slender body. 



Considering the general distribution of the Typhlops, the fact of a species 

 inhabiting the Loyalty Islands is far less remarkable than the total absence of repre- 

 sentatives in New Caledonia. In reality the herpetological fauna of the latter islands. 



Profile, upper and lower views of head, and lower view of tail of Typhlops Willeyi. 



by no means a poor one so far as Lizards are concerned, bears no kind of affinity 

 to that of the Loyalties. The high degree of specialization attained by some Geckos 

 of New Caledonia, viz. the curious species of the endemic genus Rhacodactylus, is even 

 borne out by the osteological structure, as I have recently ascertained the parietals to 

 be fused to a single bone in R. trachyrhynchus, thus presenting a remarkable 

 exception to a character which has been used to define families, or even " suborders " 

 among the Lacertilia. Another instance of the overrated importance attached to the 

 fusion of paired bones is to be found in the genus Varanus, where I have found the 

 nasal bones to be distinct in two adult specimens of V. salvator, one in the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons (as noted by me in 1891), the other in the 

 Collection of University College (as pointed out to me by Prof. Minchin), as well as 

 in the skeletons I have examined of V. prasinus and V. timorensis. 



