60 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 
out by Peters with regard to T. preissi and other species* they 
are not absolutely reliable. 
It appears highly probable that Peters had never seen an 
example of T. ruppelli when he stated its identity with T. 
nigrescent but like Prof. McCoyf had considered that Jan des- 
cribed the species from an example of T. nigrescens ; probably one 
in which the anal spots were well marked. 
3. Typhlops proximus, sp. nov. 
[Plate XV., Pigs. 1-4.] 
Habit stout, thickened posteriorly. Snout very prominent, with 
acute margin. Rostral more than half the width of the head, ex- 
tending almost to the level of the eyes, narrowed in front and 
below ; the portion visible from beneath longer than wide ; nasal 
incompletely divided, the fissure extending from the first labial to 
the upper surface of the snout \ nostrils inferior, close to the 
margin of the snout ; preocular narrower than the ocular ; nasal 
the widest. Eye very distinct, situated in the angle between the 
preocular and supraocular. Internasal, supraoculars and parietals 
enlarged. Four upper labials. Diameter of the middle of the 
body thirty-five times in the total length. Tail, not longer than 
broad, terminating in a short stout spine. Twenty scales round 
the body. 
Colors . — Variable in spirits, generally brownish-olive to greyish- 
brown above, each scale margined with yellow, lower surfaces 
yellow i sometimes a more or less distinct small brown patch on 
each side of the anus. 
Dimensions 
Total length 
... 405-0 
Length of head ... 
... 8-5 
Width of head 
... 8-5 
Width of body 
... 11-5 
Length of tail 
... 8-0 
Width of tail 
... 11-0 
Habitat. New South Wales and Victoria. Several specimens. 
Type . — In the Australian Museum, Sydney. Reg. No. 6411. 
There should be no difficulty in distinguishing T ’. proximus from 
the other Australian species ; the character of the nasal fissure 
being in contact with the first labial and produced on to th£ v 
upper surface of the snout is common only to three other species, 
* Archiv. fur. Naturg. 1862, p. 35 (not 1861, Zool. Record, i.) 
f Prod. Zool. Victoria, ii., p. 9. 
