524 ORDER MALACOPTERYGII APODES. 



In the True Eels the dorsal commences at a toler- 

 able distance behind the pectorals. 



Some have the upper jaw shorter. 



Our common eels are of this subdivision ; our 

 fishermen recognize four sorts, which they assert form 

 so many species, but which authors confound under 

 the name of Murcena anguilla, Linn. ; their French 

 names are Anguille verniaux, which is I believe the 

 most common ; Anguille long-bee, the snout of which 

 is more compressed and pointed ; Ang. plat-bee, Grig- 

 eel of the English, which has it more flatted and ob- 

 tuse, and the eye smaller; and Ang. pimperneaux, 

 Glut-eel of the English, which has it shorter in pro- 

 portion, and whose eyes are larger than those of the 

 others \ 



In others the upper jaw is longest 2 . 



Conger, Cuv. 



The dorsal fin commencing close to the pectorals, 

 or even on them ; the upper jaw is longest in all the 

 known species. 



Mur. conger, L., Bl. 155. (The Conger Eel). Is 

 found in all the seas of Europe ; it attains five or six 

 feet in length, and the thickness of a man's leg; the 

 dorsal and anal fins are edged with black ; the lateral 



1 "We shall give a comparative description and exact figures of 

 these in our great history of fishes. 



2 Mur. longicollis, Cuv. Lacep., II. iii. 3. under the false name 

 of Murcena myrus. 



