56. NEMICHTHYID^E. 365 



FAMILY LV.SACCOPHARYNGIDJE. 



(The Gulpers.) 



Muscular system very feebly developed, with the bones very thin, soft, 

 and wanting in inorganic matter, connected by a lax, easily torn fibrous 

 tissue. Head and gape enormous. Snout very short, pointed, flexible, 

 like an appendage overlapping the gape. Eye small. Maxillary and 

 mandibulary bones very thin, slender, arched, armed with one or two 

 series of long, slender, curved, widely-set teeth, their points being- 

 directed inwards ; palate toothless. Gill-openings wide, at some dis- 

 tance from the head, at the lower part of the sides ; gills very narrow, 

 free, and exposed. Trunk of moderate length. Stomach distensible in 

 an extraordinary degree. Vent at the end of the trunk. Tail band- 

 like, exceedingly long, tapering into a very fine filament. Pectoral 

 present, small. Dorsal and anal fins rudimentary, the former smaller 

 than the latter, and indicated by a groove bordered by a whitish line on 

 each side, and commencing at a short distance behind the head; a short 

 fine ray occasionally visible towards the end of the trunk. Anal rays 

 distinct, commencing behind the vent, and visible for some distance. 

 One species known, from the North Atlantic. 



(Miiramidaj, group Saccopharyngina Giinther, viii, 22.) 



177. SACCOPHAKYNX Mitchill. 



(Mitchill, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. i, 1824, 82: type Saceopliarynx flagellum Mitch.) 



Characters of the genus included above. (Latin, mccus, sack; 

 pharynx, pharynx.) 



591. S. flagellum Mitch. 



Uniform deep black. Three specimens have been found floating in the 

 North Atlantic, with their stomachs much distended, they having swal- 

 lowed some other fish, the weight of which many times exceeded their 

 own. (Giinther.) 



(Mitchill, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. i, 1824, 82; Giinther, viii, 22: Opliiof/natlms 

 ampullaccus Harwood, Phil. Trans. 1827, 277.) 



FAMILY LVI (). NEMICHTHYID^. ' 



(The Snipe-Eds.} 



Body excessively slender, not strongly compressed, deepest near the 

 middle, tapering backward to the long and very slender filament-like 

 tail, and forward to a very long and slender neck, which is abruptly 



