THE GYMNOTID EELS OF TROPICAL AMERICA. 149 



10058 I. U. M., one, 290 mm. Arroyo Trementina. 

 One, 180 mm. Hubabu Creek, Oct. 1, 1910, Ellis. 



1760 C. M., 12589 I. U. M., six, 105-285 mm. Creek below Potaro Landing, 

 Eigenmann. 



Head 5.8 to 6.2; depth 5 to 5.5 in the length to the end of the anal; A. 155, 

 158, 164, 168, 170 respectively; snout 2.7 to 2.9, interorbital 3.25 to 3.5 in the 

 head; eye 3.25 to 3.5 in the snout, 2.8 to 3 in the interorbital, 8.5 to 9 in the head; 

 11 to 13 rows of scales above lateral line. 



Compressed and slightly elongate; width of the head 2.5 to 2.8, depth of head 

 in occipital region 1.25 to 1.5 in the greatest depth; anus on, or a little behind, the 

 vertical from the posterior margin of the eye; dorsal profile rather straight back 

 of the head which slopes ventrally; ventral profile slightly concave, except below 

 the pectorals, where it is somewhat convex. 



Snout heavy, truncate and rather short; mouth large; gape reaching to just 

 below the eyes; jaws strong, lower included on the sides; teeth minute and conical, 

 in two irregular rows in lower jaw and two circular patches (one on each side of 

 the median line) in the upper jaw. 



Caudal about 5, pectorals 1.2 to 1.4 in the head; origin of the anal in front of 

 the pectorals, about 4 times the eye behind the vertical from the eye. 



Ground-color of preserved specimens dead black; a dirty white band about 

 1.5 times the eye in width extending, in the median dorsal line, from the tip of 

 the snout to the top of the head; two cream- white bands completely encircle the 

 fish, the first beginning at about the 130th anal ray and continuing to the end of 

 the anal, the second a smaller one at the origin of the caudal; anal opening, and 

 sometimes the extreme tip of the caudal, white; eye in alcoholic specim^s a bright 

 China blue; fins and rays dead black. 



In hving specimens the white bands vary from rose-pink, or heliotrope, to red, 

 and the eyes are quite red, the black parts being olivaceous. 



This fish is regarded by some of the natives of Guiana with superstition. 

 It is thought to be often inhabited by a ghost of some departed person or evil spirit. 

 It is called "Cheeogaa" by these Indians. Natterrer gives the name "Man tschi- 

 ogaa ' ' as that of the Indians near Cuyaba. The Brazilians call it " To vira ca vallo . ' ' 



Habitat: Small creeks. 



Distribution: Orinoco, Guianas, Amazons, Ucayale, Rio Paraguay, and Rio 



Parana. 



21. Sternarchus bonapartii Castelnau. 



Sternarchus bonapartii Castelnau, Anim. Amer. Sud. Poiss., 92, pi. 45, fig. 2, 

 1855 (Amazon); Kaup, Apod., 126, 1856; GiJNTHER, Cat., VIII, 3, 1870; 

 Cope, Proc. Am. Philos. Soc, 1878, 682 (Peruvian Amazon); Steindachner, 

 Flussf. Sudam., II, 42, 1881 (Manacapuru) ; Eigenmann and Eigenmann, 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, 1891, 62; Eigenmann and Ward, Proc. Wash. 



