8r>6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. voi..xxiii. 



IS. LEIURANUS Bleeker. 



I^rivrittms Blekkkk, Verli. Bat. (nMi. Munt'ii., XXV, [>. 06 {Idcc/icdii = ncini- 



ci)uiii-'^). 

 Stethoplem^ Bi.ekkek, Verh. Bat. (Ten. .Miinfu., XXV, p. oO {riniiiit'iix = sejiii- 



rhirtua) . 



Body cvHndriciil, inoath .small; below the sharp projectino- snout; 

 teeth pointed, of moderate size, biserial above, uniserial below: no 

 teeth on vomer; eye small; pectoral small; dorsal and anal low. the 

 former ])eg'inning' nearlj^ above gill opening. 



Small eels, having the bright colors of Ohlevd.sfes, Init in technical 

 respects nearer Ojj/dcht/ms, distinguished by the absence of vomerine 

 teeth. {Xeiog, smooth; ovpavog^ sky, the roof of the mouth.) 



26. LEIURANUS SEMICINCTUS ( Lay and Bennett ). 



Opiiisw-us Kemtcinctus Lay and Bexnetf, Beecliey's Voyage, Blossom, 1839, j). 86, 

 'pi. XX, fig. 4. Collected by Mr. Lay, on Oahu; 24 dark cross bands. 



Liurcuniti semicinctus Gv:^THE-R, Cat. Fish., VIII, 1870, p. 54, Fiji, China. 



Oj>}iiminis (or Sphagebranchus) rimlneus Richardson, Voy. Sulphur, p. 107, ]^\. lii, 

 fig. 16-20, China. Coll. Edw. Belcher (young, with 33 dark liands). 



Opiiimrus vimineus HicHAUDsos, Ichth. China, 1846, p. 314. 



Stethopterus vhniiieus Bleeker, Verh. Bat. Gen. Mura?n., XX\', p. 36. 



Leiurnnua InrepediiBhEEKER, Verh. Bat. Gen. Munen., XXV, p. 36. 



Lehii-diivx niluhrinus Kaup, Apodes, 1856, p. 2. — Bleeker, Atlas, Ichth. MunuMi., 

 p. 42, ]il. i\', fig. 1, and of authors (by confusion with Chlevastes colnhriiuis) . 



Head 6| in trunk; head and trunk one-seventh longer than tail; depth 

 3^ in head; clef t of mouth short, extending a little bej^ond e3'e; dorsal 

 inserted a little posterior to base of pectoral, which is nearly three 

 times the length of the small eye; dorsal and anal extending to near 

 tip of tail. Whitish brown with 24 (24 to 35) broad blackish or dark 

 brown bands, much wider than the interspaces, ))ut growing narrower 

 below, most of them not meeting on the belly anteriorly, those on the 

 tail meeting below more or less perfectly in the large specimen, but 

 not in the two smaller ones. In this regard and in the width of the 

 bands there is considerable variation; lirst two bands on head, narrow; 

 tip of snout and tip of tail white. 



Kast Indies, not very common. Our three specimens, the largest 

 ITi inches long, collected at Yaeyama, Ishigaki Islands, in the southern 

 RiuKiu Archipelago. It was found in company with Chlevastes colu- 

 hi'iinix, a species to which it bears a remarkal)le resem])lance, the chief 

 difference in color being that the dark cross-l)ands in Lchn'((/inf< mostly 

 fail to meet across the belly. If any advantage could be supposed to 

 accrue to either of these harle(iuins. this would be regarded as a striking 

 case of mimicry. {Se//d-hii\i; cmctm-handed.) 



I 



