CLASS PISCES. 531 



it seems proper to us to place a fish newly discovered, 

 and one of the most singular which is known, 



Saccopharynx, Mitchitt; Ophiognathus, Harwood, 



The trunk, susceptible of being inflated like a thick 

 tube, is terminated by a very slender and very long 

 tail, surrounded with a dorsal and anal very low, which 

 unite at its point. The mouth, armed with sharp 

 teeth, opens far behind the eyes, which are quite 

 near the very sharp point of the muzzle. Its gills 

 open by a hole below the pectorals, which are very 

 small. 



This fish grows to a very large size, and appears 

 voracious. None have been observed except in the 

 Atlantic Ocean, where they float at the surface by 

 means of the dilatation of their throat '. 



Gymnotus 2 , L. 



Have, like the eels, the gills partly closed by a mem- 

 brane, but this membrane opens in front of the pec- 

 toral fins. The anus is placed very forward; the anal 

 fin extends over the greater part of the body, and 



1 Saccopharynx fiagellum of Mitchill was six feet long, the Ophi- 

 ognathus ampullaceus of Harwood, Phil. Trans. 1827, four and a 

 half. The first did not appear to have teeth in the lower jaw ; it 

 may be, that these two fishes, although taken in the same latitudes, 

 are not identical in species, but they manifestly belong to the same 

 genus. 



2 Gymnotus, or rather Gymnonotus (naked back), a name given to 

 these fishes by Artedi. 



m m 2 



