N0.1289. APODAL FISHES OF JAPAN— JORDAN AXD SNYDER. 875 



Purplish brown, streaky, paler below; head with some dark dots 

 and wrinkles; pores on head not conspicuous. Pectoral pale; dorsal 

 l)rownish, with the edge I>lack; anal a little paler. 



Coast of southern Japan, rather rare, here descril)ed from two speci- 

 mens 3^ to -t feet in length, taken at Wakanoura. Dr. Gunther iden- 

 tities the species with ^fyd r tophi s rosfdlatus from Senegal, but in the 

 Japanese species the head is shorter, and the lower teeth are uniserial. 

 This species is one of the largest of the Ophichthyoid eels. {7top(j)vpeo^^ 

 purplish.) 



22. BRACHYSOMOPHIS Kaup. 



Brachysomo2)hifi Kavp, Apodej^, 1856, p. 9 (horrtdu-'i.) 



? Achirophichthys Bleeker, Poissons Ined. Murenes, Xe<l. Tijdschr. Dierk., II, 

 p. 42 {typus=crocodilinus young). 



This genus differs from MystriopJiis chiefly in the presence of a con- 

 spicuous fringe of papillae on the lips. The vomerine teeth are 

 canine. Species East Indian, doubtfully recorded from Japan. 

 [jSpaxvg^ short: ffcof-ia, body; o^i?, snake.) 



37. BRACHYSOMOPHIS CROCODILINUS (Bennett). 



Ophisurus crocodilinus Besseti, Proc. Zoijl. Soc. Lond., 1833, p. 32, Mauritiu;^. 

 BrachysomopMs Jwrridus Kaup, Apodes, 1856, p. 9, fig. 6, Otaheite. — Bleeker, 



Verb. Med. Ak. Amst., 1868, II, p. 303. 

 f Achiwj)hlc]tthy>i typus Bleeker, Ned. Tijdi^ehr. Dierk., Y^. 42, Celebes. 

 Oj)h ichthys crocodilinus GtJyrrnER, Cat., VII, 1870, p. 64, Galapagos, Japan. 

 Bntchysomophis crocodilinus Jordan and Davis, Apodal Fishes, 1892, j). 636. — 



Jordan and Evermann, Fish. N. M. America, after Giinther. 



Teeth unequal in size; maxillar}' teeth in a doulile row, those of the 

 inner row stronger and less numerous than the outer; vomer and 

 mandibular teeth uniserial, large canine teeth; head 3 in trunk; 

 snout extremely short and rather flattened, scarcely twice as long as 

 eye, which is small and situated in the anterior ninth of the length of 

 the head; vertical rins moderateh" well developed; distance between 

 the origin of dorsal fln and gill opening 2i in head; pectoral small; 

 bod}' longer than tail. Upper parts brownish, minutely dotted with 

 darker; a series of black pores along the lateral line, sometimes a 

 whitish line across the occiput (Giinther). East Indies, a specimen 

 recorded by Giinther from the Galapagos, and also recorded by Giin- 

 ther, with equal doubt, from Japan. (CrocodnNn/.s, like a crocodile.) 



23. OXYSTOMUS Rafinesque. 



Oxystomus Rafinesque, Caratteri di Alnini (Teneri, 1810, p. 62 (]ti/(din>ts=.'<erpf'ns; 



j'onng) . 

 Ophisiirus Risso, Europe Merid., 1826, pp. Ill, 206 {!^crp('ns, not of Rafinesque). 

 Leptognathus Swainson, Xatur. Hist. Classn. Fish., II, 1839, p. 234 {oxyrliynclms— 



serpens) . 

 Leptorliynchiis 8mith, Illustr. Fishes S. Afr., 1840 {airpenslf;). 



This genus is allied to Oplucldhus^ differing in the long and slender 

 jaws, similar to those of Oxyconger^ Chlojjsis^ and NettaHtoina. The 



