\\AiTE — Review of Australian Typhlopidae 



Chart 1. Distribution of • T. proxiniiis. 

 of tlie expressions "dorsal profile" or "ventral profile" certainly indicates the 

 upper or lower contours resi)ecti\ely. as seen in profile. 



Following custom, the use of the term "head," though admittedly inexact, is 

 hereafter employed to express the lateral contour of the head, while the word 

 "snout" similarly denotes the contour as seen in profile; the mouth, Ijeing under- 

 shot, merely completes the lower profile. 



Synopsis. Tn IS!):), Boulenger (H) catalogued the Typfilopidae of the 

 \v()i-ld. and it will be conceded that the preparation of a synoptical key of such 

 inmicrous and generally similar forms presents great difficulties. This diffi- 

 culty is enhanced when but little material or descriptions only are available, and, 

 in practice, it is found that by the aid of such key alone, the determination of 

 some species is very difficult and unsatisfactory, especially when some of the 

 main divisions, or at any rate subdixisions, are based upon relati\e and, what 

 prove to be inconstant, characters, to be discovered only when ample material 

 for comparison is available. 



(6) Boulenger, Cat. Snakes, Brit. Mus. i. 1S93. 



