RECORDS OF W.A. MUSEUM. 
[i8i 
Ophioseps repens. 
Ophioseps nasutus. 
I. Snout slightly hooked and trilobed : 
more than three times the diameter 
of the eye. 
I. Snout not hooked, broadly rounded. 
Two and one half times the 
diameter of the eye, 
2. Portion of the rostral visible from 
below longer than broad. 
2. Portion of the rostral visible from 
below broader than long. 
3. Nostril large, the groove connecting 
it with the praefrontal. 
3. Nostril small, the groove, when pre- 
sent, connecting it with the first 
supralabial. 
4. Praefrontals and nasals seen from 
above longer than broad. 
4. Praefrontals and nasals seen from 
above much broader than long. 
5 Fontal broader in front than behind, 
just as long as its distance from the 
tip of the snout. 
5. Frontal broader behind than in 
front, more than twice as long as its 
distance from the tip of the snout. 
6. Supraocular in contact with the 
third supralabial behind the eye. 
6. Supraocular separated from the 
third supralabial by a postocular or 
several small scales. 
7, Headshields with minute papillae. 
7. Headshields quite smooth. 
8. Scales in twelve series round the 
body. 
8. Scales in fourteen series round 
the body. 
Dr. Werner shows^ that there is considerable variation in O. 
nasuta. In his Aprasia brevirostris ^ which he has later shown * to 
be synonymous with 0. nasuta, the small scales which surround the 
eye are fused into a narrow band, and the portion of the rostral seen 
from above is sometimes half as long as its distance from the 
frontal while Jensen’s figure ^ of O. nasuta, shows it to be almost as 
long as its distance from the frontal. The nasal cleft may be 
present or absent. In Jensen’s specimens and in Du Bocage’s 
type ® there is a postocular, while in Dr. Werner’s types of A. 
brevirostris there are two small undifferentiated scales behind the 
eye. The praeanals may or may not be enlarged. 
This remarkable variation within the one species is only in 
keeping with the extraordinary individual variation of other 
members of the family Pygopodidae, to which family Dr. Werner 
has referred this genus. The above proposed new series however, 
1 Werner — Das Tierreich, Lief 33, igi2, p. 26. 
2 Werner — Fauna Siidw.-Austr, II, igog, p. 266, figs. 
® Werner — Das Tierreich, Lief 33, 1912, p. 26. 
^ Jensen — Vid. Meddel., 1899, p. 317, pi. iii. 
■5 Bocage — Jorn. Sc. Lisb., IV, 1873, p. 321. 
