112 



the end of the snout, and half a diameter from the corner 

 of the mouth. Lateral line a series of short tubes, each 

 having a porous mouth posteriorly, and beneath an oblong 

 mark. The gill-rays are seventeen, and the dorsal com- 

 mences over the gill-opening. 



Length Q7 inches. To anus ]3'5 inches. Length of 

 rictus of mouth .3 5 inches. 



A dried skin preserved in British Museum. 



Hab. Unknown. 



We must refer to Dr. Mc Clelland's able paper so often 

 quoted for the Indian species of Murceneso.v, of which he 

 describes six species, viz., il/. iriciispulatn, above noticed ; 

 M. laiiceolata, which has biserial mandibular teeth, and 

 the vomerine teeth with a single lanceolate cusp, the lateral 

 cusps being absent, or at least obsolete; M. exoJentata, 

 with triserial mandibular teeth, the points of the exterior 

 row directed horizontally outwards ; M. serridenlata, dis- 

 tinguished by serrated vomerine teeth. Dr. Mc Clelland 

 considers this species to be the Ophidiiim tulnbon of 

 Russell (38) ; and among Hardwicke's drawings of Indian 

 fish, preserved in the British Museum (No. 292), I find 

 one marked Congriis talahon (Gray), with a reference to 

 Russell, which shows the dorsal commencing far before the 

 gill-opening, and a tapering jioinled tail. Its colour is 

 darkened by minute crowded black dots. No. 294 in the 

 same collection of drawings is named the "Jungle conger," 

 and is of a pale greenish and silvery hue. Its rays are 

 stated to be Br. 7, D. 138 ; A. 108, C. 24 = 270. An en- 

 larged sketch of the jaws in figure 296 shows it to be a 

 ]\Iirncneso.v, probably allied to ciirvidens. The Chinese 

 Coii</riis fascialtis of Gray ( Richardson's Report on 

 the Ichtli. of China) is figured in Nos. 291 and 293 of the 

 same collection. Il has an ochre-yellow ground, but with 

 irregular purplish-black blotches descending from the dor- 

 sal fin to the middle of the sides, several of them en- 

 closing spots of the ground colour. The top of the head 

 is black, with three dark spots on the hind head. The 

 cheeks, under surface of the head and the anal, have the 

 bright ochraceous ground tint, the fin being edged with 

 black. The dorsal and pectorals are mountain-green. I 

 have seen no specimen of this fish. 



Since this sheet was set up in type the fifteenth decade 

 of the FaimaJnpoiiica, containing the Congers, has reached 

 me. !M. Schlegel enumerates Congrus luh/aris among the 

 Japanese fish, but says, at the same time, that having only a 

 dried specimen to judge from he cannot be certain of its ab- 

 solute specific identity with the common conger of Europe. 

 The next species, Coiigrus aiwgo, PI. cxiii, fig. 1, differs in 

 aspect from any that we have described, and is considered 

 by M. Schlegel as the analogue or representative of the 

 Mnrcena balearica of Delaroche, Ann. da Miisee, tome 13, 

 p. 327, PI. 20, fig. 3. Congrus hamo belongs to Dr. 

 Mc Clelland's genus Muranpsox, and seems to be identical 

 with a conger in the British Museum, which was discovered 

 in the Phili]5pines by Mr. Cuming. I had given this spe- 

 cimen a ]irovisional specific ajjpcllation, which I have 

 changed liu- Iniiiin since the fortunate arrival of the decade 

 of the FaiiiKi .Idjiiiiiica before the sheet was printed off. 

 M. Schlegel states ihat the talahon is the common species of 

 the equatorial seas, and mentions the Straits of Sunda as 



one of its habitats, but none of the specimens from the 

 Malay Archipelago which I have seen show the character- 

 istic serratures of the teeth which have been noticed by 

 Dr. Mc Clelland, whose excellent opportunities lor study- 

 ing the fish described by Russell and Buchanan-Hamilton 

 give great weight to his authority in the determination of 

 their species. 



As to Conger urolophus and C. tiropterus of the Fauna 

 Japon/ca, they are evidently Ophisttri, having the naked 

 tip of the tail, the lobed upper lip, form of the gape, and 

 comparatively small eye, which distinguish the Uphisiiri 

 from the Congri; and I doubt not but dissection would 

 show the numerous hair-like gill-rays of the genus. Ophi- 

 siinis urolophus seems to be distinct from any that we 

 have described, but O. nropterus is perhaps identical with 

 O. sinensis of this work, p. 98. O. porphyrus is quite dis- 

 tinct from any species in the British Museum, and it ap- 

 pears to have small teeth on the entopterygoid,* as well as 

 on the u.sual dentiferous bones, for so I understand M. 

 Schlegel when he says " II existe des dents dans I'inter- 

 maxillaii-e, dans les machoires, dans le vomer, et dans les 

 palafins, et elles sont dans tons ces os distribue sur un 

 seule rangee, pointues, un pen comprimees et un pen diri- 

 gees en arriere. Celles des deux tiers anterieurs du vomer 

 sont au nombre de trois, et assez vigoureuses et grandes, 

 leur largueur egalant le diametre de Toeil ; celles de deux 

 tiers anterieurs de la machoire inferieure sont au nombre 

 de trois a quatre, et de plus de moitie plus petites que ces 

 grandes dents vomerieuses ; les dents des autres parties 

 sont plus petites encore, et peu serrees." 



Murtcna Iddako, p. 266, Plf cxvii., and M. albimargi- 

 iiafa, p. 267, PI. cxviii., differ from any that we have 

 described ; but it is probable that il/. pordalis will prove 

 to be merely the adult of M. paronina, p. 90 (Ichth. of 

 Voy. of Sulphur, p. 110, PI. 53, f. 1—6), and also the 

 '^ calamaia pawn'" of Russell, xxxii., and perhaps the 

 M. punctata of Schneider, though there are some diffe- 

 rences in the figures and descriptions to reconcile. The 

 figure in the Fauna Japonica wants the elongated tubular 

 pores on the points of the snout and mandible, which were 

 conspicuous in our smaller specimen. 



Anguilla australis. Richardson. 



Ai!f/uilla australis, Richardson, Zool. Trans, iii. p. 157. 



Plate XL v., figs. 1—5. 



This eel is ]iroporlionally a more slender species than 

 lahrosa, and its lips, which have the same structure, are 

 less thick and large. Its profile is depressed or slightly 

 concave before the eye, and its snout rounded at the end. 

 The eye is moderately large for an Anguilla, and is placed 

 over tiie angle of the mouth. The anus is before the mid- 



* TLat is, if this hone exists in the genns, which I do not know for 

 certain, as 1 have not seen a skeleton of an Ophisunis. 



