884 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



VOL. XXIII. 



iiasiil tubes iiiucli shorter than eye; snout sharp, 4^ in head; eye 2i in 

 snout, nearer to angle of mouth than to its tip; gill opening about a.s 

 large as t>ve. dorsal lieginning somewhat before it. 



Color very dark brown, almost hlaek. everywhere l)l()teh(Hl with 

 light gray, like spots of lichen; three row.s of larger spots on each 

 side. t)esides many smaller ones, all very irregular in form; smaller 

 spots of similar character on head: s])ots of body larger toward head; 

 on belly the ground coloi" is reduced to irregular reticulations; dorsal 

 and anal tins colored like the body without light or dark edgings; no 

 black at angle of mouth or around gill opening. This species is 

 strongly distinguished by its dentition, there ))eing about ?>{) large 



Fig. 20. — .K.MAsiA lichknksa. 



depressible teeth or fangs in its mouth. The absence of pale edge to 

 the anal separates it at sight from (Tiinrnothorax l-ldal'o^ which it 

 resembles in color, although its pale markings take the form of lichen- 

 like blotches rather than irregular crossbars. 



Of this interesting species two specimens, each al)Out 22 inches 

 long, were obtained, the one at Wakanoura, the other at Misaki. On 

 the specimen from Wakanoura, the pale spots are smaller and less 

 conspicuous than on the other. 



Type No. 6480, Leland Stanford -Funior University Museuui. Local- 

 ity, Wakanoura. {Lichenosus, covered with lichens.) 



28. STROPHIDON McClelland. 

 Slropludon McClelland, Calcutta .Tourn. Nat. Hi.st., V, 1S44, p. 1S7 (h>u(j}c(ni<l(tln = 



X(ltJu'tf). 



IWudechidii't Bleeker, Atlas Ichth., Mtira-n., 1864, i>. lOH, ]>!. viii (no ilt'scn])- 

 tion; changed to Strophidon in text). 



This genus contains morays distinguished b}- the extreme length and 

 slenderness of the body and the great number of the tin rays (D. 628, 

 A. 355 in S. hrummerl). The species of Gymnothovcw have D. 250 to 

 400, A. 150 to 280. The tail is not twice as long as rest of body. The 

 snout is small, and the dorsal l)egins well forward of the gill opening 

 on the head. Species few. ((Trpo^//. twist; od(w^, tooth.) 



