OPHIDIID^E. 329 



Third Group. Ammodytina. 

 Ventral fins absent. Vent placed far from the head. 



Genus III Ammodytes,* Artedi. 



llypcroplus and Bleekeria, Giinther. 



Branchiostegals seven or eight : pseudobranchice in the form of lamellce. Body 

 low, elongated and compressed. Gill-openings very wide, the gill membranes not 

 being united. Gills four. Eyes of moderate size. Barbels absent. Lower jaw 

 usually prominent. Teeth, when present, minute. A single long dorsal fin composed 

 of articulated rays. Scales, if present, small: when absent, the skin of the abdomen 

 may be vertically folded. Lateral-line present. Air-bladder absent. Vent remote 

 from the head. 



Geographical distribution. Littoral and gregarious forms mostly of a small 

 size, which frequent the sandy shores of Europe and North America as far south 

 as Cape Hatteras ; while the late Dr. Jerdon discovered a species off Madras. 



Of the three British species, only a solitary example of A. siculus is said to 

 have been dredged off the Shetland Isles, and is now in the British Museum : 

 whereas A. lanceolatus and A. tobianus are common in suitable localities, but 

 being very similar in appearance it often becomes difficult to decide to which 

 of the two forms some authors are alluding. I therefore propose bringing 

 together in this place published accounts of the habits of the sand-eel or sand- 

 launce generally. In May, 1870, Sars, when investigating the cod-fisheries off the 

 coast of Norway, had his attention directed to the large number of schools of 

 sand-eels which during the winter months appear to reside in deep waters, as 

 throughout those months they are occasionally taken from the stomachs of deep-sea 

 fishes. As summer sets in they arrive in dense schools in the sandy bays and 

 sounds, the places they frequent having been known from time immemorial, and 

 being often very limited in extent. Exceedingly voracious, they devour any 

 fish or other animal which they are able to overcome, persistently pursuing 

 the schools of sprats, while they likewise bury themselves in the sand, provided 

 the weather is not too bright and sunny, consequently when the tide is out 

 they may be dug up at even some considerable distance from the receding sea, 

 although within the limits of tide-marks. Mr. Lloyd mentions that two kept in 

 an aquarium at Hamburg always buried themselves in the sand at a particular 

 spot, and on being stirred up they swam about with an uneasy and rapid 

 wriggling motion for a few moments, generally with their heads towards the 

 light, and then dashed down into the sand into which they disappeared, prior to 

 the subsidence of the little cloud of sand which they raised in the act of vanishing. 



They appear to live in large schools which have been observed to rise to the 

 surface simultaneously, or when driven there by predacious fishes. Thus Sars records 

 seeing a flock of sea-gulls sitting listlessly on the edge of a rock overhanging the 

 sea : suddenly, and as if with one impulse, all rose at the same moment and 

 screaming in concert, winged their way to a distant point where the sea looked 

 like a miniature whirlpool. This was occasioned by the pollack, Gadus pollachius, 

 which had surrounded a school of sand-eels, and forced them towards the surface, 

 when they became an easy prey, not only to these fish but to the gulls which 

 swooped down from above. Porpoises have been recorded to act much in the 

 same way, swimming round the schools and devouring immense numbers. Their 

 appearance when thus rising has often been mistaken for schools of mackerel. 



A. Vomer armed anteriorly with a pair of tooth-like projections. 



1. Ammodytes lanceolatus, Plato XCII, fig. 1. 



Ammodytes, Jago, Ray, Syn. p. 165, t. ii, f. 12. Enchelyopns, Klein, Pise. 

 Miss, iv, p. 56, no. 7, t. xii, f. 10. 



* The term Ammodytes refers to its powers of digging in the sand. 



