101 



authoritj of Lacepede,but rejecting the synonyms of Bod- 

 daevt and Thunberg, which relate to a true Ophisurus, of 

 which a specimen exists in the Museum at Ilaslar, and tiie 

 description follows. 



Teeth short-conical, blimtish, small. Nasal teeth about 

 six, ranged in two rows, and alternating so that there is an 

 odd one in front. Vomerine teeth uuiserial in front, bi- 

 serial posteriorly. There are about eight in each row pos- 

 teriorly, and four single ones anteriorly, between which and 

 the vomerine disk there is a smooth space. The palatine 

 teeth commence posterior to the beginning of the vomerine 

 teeth, and consequently at some distance from the nasal 

 ones, but reach rather past the angle of the mouth. There 

 are fourteen or fifteen on each side, and two or three anterior 

 pairs, being set alternately, make the series double there, 

 but the nine posterior ones stand in a single row. The 

 mandibular teeth are placed in a single row on the lateral 

 limbs of the bone, but at the symphysis the teeth are a 

 little larger, and two interior ones on each side give a 

 clustered appearance to the dentition at the end of the 

 jaw. 



This Ophisurus is a long slender species, with a small 

 head, closely resembling Ophisurus fasciatus in form. 

 The head is narrow, but the upper jaw is obtuse, with a 

 tubular nostril sticking out on each side. The other nos- 

 tril and upper lip have likewise the generic character. 

 Lower jaw considerably shorter than the upper one. Body 

 compressed, becoming gradually more so towards the tail. 

 Fins low. Pectoral very small and delicate, but the rays 

 are nevertheless perceptible by the aid of a common lens. 

 Dorsal fold commencing over the angle of the mouth, and 

 ending half an inch from the point of the tail, having pre- 

 viously gradually lowered, so as to be visible only by aid 

 of a lens. Anal ending about three quarters of an inch 

 from the point of the tail, which is compressed, and tapers 

 gradually. Lateral line evident to the naked eye, and 

 composed of an almost continuous waving tube, with a 

 pore at each flexure. Body marked by a series of 

 bluish-gray, almost white, rings, alternating with as many 

 blackish-brown ones, occupying nearly equal spaces. In 

 the specimen here described there are twenty-eight rings 

 of each colour, not reckoning the white speck covering the 

 tip of the nose. The first pale ring encircles the hind 

 head, and just touches the eye and the angle of the mouth ; 

 the last one includes the end of the tail. The first black 

 bar reaches from the anterior nostril to the eye, and takes 

 in most of the lower jaw. 



Length 18' 5 inches. To anus 8"5 inches. To gill- 

 opening 1 inch. Height of body 0"2 inch. 



A specimen in the British Museum, measuring 26 inches 

 in total length, and 12'5 inches from tip of snout to anus, 

 has thirty rings of each colour; and the anal can scarcely 

 be traced beyond two inches and a half from the tip of the 

 tail, though its existence farther on a little way is indicated 

 by a furrow. A specimen in the Museum at Leyden re- 

 sembles the one described above in having twenty-eight 

 black rings : this individual was obtained in India. Ano- 

 ther, taken at the Moluccas, and preserved in the same 

 Museum, has thirty-two dark or blackish bands, which do 

 not meet on the belly. The ground colour is whitish. 



These fish being kept in jars closed by bladder and varnish, 

 no examination of their teeth, &c., could be instituted. A 

 third specimen at Leyden has been named as the alternaus 

 of Quoy and Gaimard, but it wants the intermediate 

 spots. 



Hab. Malay Archipelago. Moluccas. Polynesia. 

 India. 



Ophisurus fallens. Richardson. 



Nasal teeth five in number, the odd one in front. Vo- 

 merine teeth triserial. Palatine teeth biserial, meeting the 

 vomerine ones immediately behind the nasal disk. Man- 

 dibular teeth biserial in Iront, uniserial posteriorly. All 

 the teeth are short and conico-subulate or conic and acute; 

 the nasal and front mandibular ones are stouter and more 

 prominent than the others. Dorsal and anal ending opposite 

 to each other, within two lines of the tip of the tail. The 

 general appearance of this Ophisurus is like that of Iiijalu. 

 Its lateral line is similar, and the pectoral consideraV/iy 

 smaller. The vertical fins are low, and taper gradually 

 away. The dorsal commences as far behind the gill- opening 

 as that is distant from the ti]5 of the snout. The colour is 

 a pale honey-yellow or faint wood-brown, lighter on the 

 belly, and without spots. The specimen was brought from 

 China, and presented to the British Museum by John 

 Reeves, Esq. It has been immersed in spirits for some 

 years. 



Length lit) inches. To anus 4'4 inches. To gill- 

 opening 085 inch. Length of pectoral 0'40 inch. Gape 

 0-35 inch. 



Hab. China. 



Obs. — I described this specimen in the ' Report on the 

 Ichthyology of China,' p. 313, as referrible, though with 

 doubt, to the Ophisurus harancha of Buchanan-Hamilton, 

 but on further consideration I think it safer to give a pro- 

 per name to the Chinese specimen, which, had it been ori- 

 ginally as dark as the harancha is represented to be in 

 number 302 of Hardwicke's Indian drawings, could 

 scarcely have become so pale by simple maceration in 

 spirits as it is now. I suspect that an eiTor has crept into 

 my notes with regard to the specimen of harancha from 

 India, which I have mentioned in my Report on Chinese 

 Fish as existing in the British Museum, since I could not 

 find it on my recent examination of the species in that col- 

 lection, and I cannot therefore speak of the characters of 

 harancha from the actual inspection of a specimen. 



In the Museum of the Cambridge Philosophical Institu- 

 tion there is an Ophisurus, procured at Canton by the Rev. 

 George Vachell, which, on inspecting it there, but without 

 a comparison with the specimens in the British Museum, 

 seemed to me to possess the characters ascribed by Bu- 

 chanan-Hamilton to harancha. I find that I have noted 

 it as a slender species with very low fins, having a pecto- 

 ral of an elliptical form, supported by thirteen rays, with 

 its lip just passing the small depression or pit which marks 

 the origin of the dorsal. The termination of the dorsal 

 and anal could not be distinctly made out, but the lip of 



