852 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xxiii. 



1)y tlu' length of its pertoriils. and tlio size of its gill openings. Max- 

 illiirv I'eiU'hing to o})posite posterior part of pupil; head -J} in trunk; 

 S in total length; head and trunk 1-^ in tail (from ligure); peetorals 

 2|^ in head, reaching past front of dorsal; gill openings l)roader than 

 l>ase of peetoral. 



C'oloi- mottled dusky above, paler hclow; tins yellowish, the black 

 margin of dorsal obsolete {on the figure); pectorals pale. (Bleeker.) 



One specimen r^H^Jnmi. long, said to be from Japan, apparently distin- 

 guished by its pale dorsal tins and anal. Not seen by us. 



This species is also very close to the one figured by Bleeker from 

 East Indian examples as the true Conger {LeptocepJiaJus c(niger^= Con- 

 ger vulgaris)^ l)ut the j^oung examples have the tail shorter than in 

 Bleeker's figure, doubtless a matter of age. The European Conger 

 seems, however, to be difterent from any Japanese Conger we have 

 seen. It is possible that furthtn- research will show i\\iiijaj)onlcus is 

 the you?ig and erehennus the adult of the same species. 



II. LEPTOCEPHALUS RIUKIUANUS Jordan and Snyder, new species. 



Head '1 in trunk; head and trunk together half length of tail; mouth 

 larger than in related species, the jaws subequal, the maxillary 2^ in 

 head, extending to opposite })osterior margin of eye; snout rather 

 pointed, 4i in head; eye large, 1^ in snout, about 6^ in head; pectorals 

 3i in head; dorsal inserted about over middle of pectoral. 



Color dusky above, paler l)elow; a series of small faint white pores 

 along the lateral line, these smaller, farther apart, and less distant than 



Fig. -1. — LEPTofEPiiAi.rs inrKH'ANT.s. 



in Lcpt(>ccphaUi><. myruLstci^ and becoming obsolete behind; al)out 36 

 of these before the vent; dorsal and anal each with a ])road black mar- 

 gin which surrounds the tip of the tail, pectoral })ale; a dai'k streak 

 through snout, extending obli(piely doAvnward and backward below 

 eye; nuchal pores small, feAV in a cross series. 



It may, i)erhapw, "be recognized by the great length of its tail; body :^ 2 inches; 

 tail, ?,\ inches," which is aVjout the usual relation in LcptoceplKtla,'^. 



The species was not seen by us. There is nothing in the published account to sep- 

 arate it from a young Leptoccphalus, for example, L. japonlcnx, which has little dark 

 edging to its dorsal, (f'repog, different; yvdOoi^, jaw.) 



Miirophw h('tero(jna(hnx Bi.keker, Act. Soc. Sci. Indo-Nedrl. V, Japan, \>. 9, pi. iii, 



fig. 1, Nagasaki. 

 (huithophis Jicterognathu.H Kaii", Aale Hamburg. Mns., 1859, p. 7 (after Bleeker). 

 {Congermitnena) hetero(jnatlvm GIjnther, Cat. Fish., VIII, 1870, p. 42, same 

 specimen. 



