N0.1239. APODAL FISHES OF JAPAN— JORDAN AND SNYDER. 839 



}foriui>tenis ci))creus Richardson, Voyage Sulphur, \>. 117, i>l. i.ii, figs. 1-6 (Excl. 



wyn.), Chusan, Woonuug. 

 M(moptcrv)< (/) .nDithognathin^ Ku uakdson, Voy. Sulpliur, p. US, pi. lii, tig. 7, 



Canton. 

 Monopteriix iiKinnoraliit^ Temminck and Sciileokl, Richardson, Ichth. China, 



1848, p. 815, Chusan. 

 Monoplerwi helvnbis Richardson, Ichth. C-hina, j). 816, Canton. 

 Apterigid .mcrofjulxn-ix Basit,ewsky,Nouv. Mem. 8oc. Nat. Moscow, X, 1855, p. 247, 



pi. van, fig. 2, Tschili. 

 Aj)(erigia rdgrornarulata Basii.ewsky, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Nat. Moscow, X, p. 248, 



pi. II, fig. 2, Peking. 

 Apterlglii iiinitdrulata Basilewskv, Nouv. Mem. Soc. Nat. Moscow, X, ]>. 248, 



Peking. 



Head 13 in leiio-th, its depth greater than that of body, If in its 

 length; depth 22 (17 to 26) in length. Jaws heavy, the lower shorter; 

 maxillary 2 in head; teeth small, mostly uniserial. Eye very small, 

 over middle of maxillary, (xill openings inferior, confluent in a 

 semicircular slit. Tail very short, pointed, 2f in rest of l)ody. Dor- 

 sal tin very low, beginning close behind vent. Anal very indistinct, 

 about half length of dorsal; no pectorals. Color in spirits blackish 

 olive, with traces of darker and paler streaks and mottlings; a dark 

 cross-band behind head; in life with yellowish streaks and dashes and 

 dark dots above. 



Length 1 to 2 feet. 



Fresh waters and rice ditches of China, Korea, and southward to 

 Java, Borneo, and Siam, north to the Riu Kiu Islands; our specimens, 

 four in iuuii])er. were collected b}" Mr. Tashiro on the island of Oki- 

 nawa, where it is known as Ta-unagi or rice-field eel. The present 

 description is taken from specimen No. 69, in the Imperial Museum at 

 Tokyo, from the island of Amami-Oshima in the northern Riu Kiu 

 group. It is a foot in length. The specimen is recorded as 

 '"'' M(>r!)i</i«i jandn/cd'"' in Dr. Ishikawa's list, {alhux^ white.) 



Order APODES. 



EELS. 



Teleost fishes with the premaxillaries atrophied or lost, the maxil- 

 laries lateral, and the body anguilliform and destitute of ventral fins. 

 The most striking feature is the absence of the premaxillaries, taken 

 in connection with the elongate form and the little development of the 

 scapular arch, which is not attached to the cranium. Other characters 

 not confined to the Apodes are the following: The absence of the 

 symplectic bone, the reduction of the opercular apparatus and of the 

 palatopterygoid arch, the absence of ventral fins, the absence of the 

 mesocoracoid or pr^coracoid arch, and the reduction or total absence 

 of the scales. There are no spines in the fins, the gill openings are 

 comparatively small, and there are no pseudobranchia\ The vertebrae 

 are in large number and none of them ai"e special 1}" modified. The tail 



