PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 50 



"there is no trace of such processes," and he therefore says : " Hence I 

 venture to conchule that if Dr. Mitchill's lish retains the name Sacco- 

 pharynx flagcllum, Dr. Harwood's and mine ought to be designated Sac- 

 copliarynx ampullaceus'''' (p. 279). 



In 1859, Dr. Pieter von Bleeker, in the " Systematis PisciuniiSaturalis 

 Tentainen," prefixed to his "EnuQieratio Specierum Piscium hucusque 

 in Archipelago Indico observatoruiii," gave a family name (Saccopharyn- 

 goidei, p. xxxiii) to this type, and isolated it as the representative of a 

 peculiar tribe (Saccopharjugichthyini) contrasting it with another tribe 

 (Munenichthyini) which contained all the other families of true apodal 

 fishes, or such as were unprovided with maxillary bones, and which 

 formed the order "Muraiufe" of his system. 



In 1870, Dr. Giinther published the eighth volume of his "Catalogue 

 of the Fishes in the British Museum," and ranked the genus Saccopha- 

 rynx as the representative of a peculiar "group," "Saccopharyngina" 

 \\K 19) of his family "Murtenida^." He characterized the "Saccopharyn- 

 uina" as "Murfenidfe platyschistse ;" which have "the tail exceedingly 

 lung; muscular system very feebly developed; bones very thin; stom- 

 ach extremely distensible; gill-openings separate." 



The genus Saccopharynx was deiined (p. 22) in the following terms: 



" Second group. Saccopharyngina. 

 "2. Saccopharynx. 



"Saccopharynx, MUchiU, Auu. Lye. New York, i, 1824, p. 82. 

 " Opbiognathus, Harwood, Phil. Traus. 1827, p. 277. 



" Deep-sea Congers, with the muscular system very feebly developed, 

 with the bones very thin, soft, and wanting in anorganic matter, con- 

 nected by a lax, easily torn fibrous tissue. 



"Head and gape enormous. Snout very short, pointed, flexible, like 

 an appendage overlapping the gape. [Only one nostril can be found in 

 front of the eye.*] Maxillary and mandibulary bones very thin, slender, 

 arched, armed with one or two series of long, slender, curved, widely 

 set teeth, their points being directed inward ; palate toothless. Gill- 

 openings wide, at some distance from the head, at the lower part of the 

 sides; gills very narrow, free, and exposed. Trunk of moderate length. 

 Stomach distensible in an extraordinary degree. Yent at the end of the 

 trunk. Tail band-like, exceedingly long, tapering into a very fine fila- 

 ment. Pectoral small, present. Dorsal and anal fins rudimentary; the 

 former more so than the latter, and indicated by a groove bordered by 

 a whitish line on each side, and commencing at a short distance behind 

 the head. Now and then a short fine ray occasionally visible towards 

 the end of the trunk. Anal rays distantly placed, commence behind the 

 vent, and are visible for some distance. 



* "This part of the head is not in a good state of preservation, and the other nostril 

 is most probably near the end of the snout." — Giinther's note. 



