354 CONTRIBUTIOXS TO NORTH AMERICAN ICHTHYOLOGY — IV. 
5111(1 oporcles in aboutS rows. Colordark gray; sides with roniul blackish 
sjiots on a ground color of grayish silvery ; belly white ; fins spotted 
with blsick. Head 85 5 dejith G. 1>. I 85 1). 17 5 A. 15 5 Liit. 1. 150. L. 4 
to 8 feet. A magnificent hsh, by far the largest of its family, found in 
tlie Great Lake region and northward. 
(I'nox CHlor Dokay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 222, and of various authors, not of Le Sueur; 
Thompson, Froc, Rost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 1850, iii, 1G3; Jordan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. x, 54, 
and of most late writers.) 
Order O.-ABODES.* 
{The Eels.) 
Scapular arch free behind the cranium; no prtecoracoid arch. Air- 
bladder, if present, with a pneumatic duct. Ventral fins wanting. 
]Maxillary and iiremaxillary more or less connate Avitli other bones or 
with each other, sometimes entirelj’ wanting. Pharyiigesil and oper- 
cular apparatus often deficient. Vertebrae in increased number. Ver- 
tical fins without spines, usually confluent around the tail. Gill-open- 
ings nsnally narrow, separated by a broad isthmus, sometimes close to- 
gether or continent. Xo pseudobranchiaj. Body eel-shaped; naked, 
or with rudimentary scales. 
As here understood, this order includes most of the old order of 
Aj)odes, excluding as separate orders the Glanencheli (Gymnotidcc) and 
the Ichthyocephali {Monopteridee). It thus includes the llolostomi, En- 
eheljjceiyhoU, iind Colocepliali of Cope, which may be united provision- 
ally until the osteology of various aberrant forms is made known, (a, 
privative; -uu?, foot.) 
(Symhranchidce and Murcenidee Guuther, viii, 12-145.) 
AXAI.YSIS OF FAMILIES OF APODES. 
"Vent much behind head; jaws not greatly produced; dorsal without spines. 
t Muscular and osseous systems well developed. 
a. Preopcrclo wanting ; lower pharyngeals wanting ; gill-openings very small. 
MURiEXII)^, 52. 
aa. Preopercle present ; lower jdiaryngeals present. 
h. Gill-openings Avell separated Axguillid.e, 53. 
bb. Gill-oi)euings contiguous; mouth very large, with sm.all, sharp teeth. 
Syxaphobraxciiid.e, 54. 
tOIuscular and osseous systems feebly developed; gape very wide; stomach ex- 
tremely distensible Saccopharyxoid^e, 55. 
*• Vent under the pectorals; both jaws produced into a very slender beak; body ex- 
tremely slender ; middle of dorsal with spines Nemicutiiyiile, 56. 
Called Encliehjcephali in the an.alytical table on page 81 
