ON AN EEL FROM THE MARSHALL ISLANDS. 



BY SAMUEL GARMAN. 



The eel from which the accompanying sketches and des- 

 cription were drawn was sent to the Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology in a collection, from the Marshall Islands, 

 made by the Rev. B. G. Snow. As the balance of the lot 

 was composed entirely of shoal-water species, the subject 

 of this notice probably belongs to the same category. Its 

 peculiarities, especially those of the rostrum, distinguish 

 it from the other species of its genus (Murcena) to such 

 an extent as will hardly permit its admission into any of 

 the subgenera at present recognized. It is most closely 

 allied to Thyrsoideay but differs in snout and dentition. 



A subgenus {Rhinomuroena) to contain it may be char- 

 acterized by the misal tubes, the rostral appendages, the 

 uniserial teeth, and the elongate tail. 



Rhinomur^na qu^sita, sp. n. 



Form very slender, slightly compressed, tapering to 

 snout and tail. Head small, elongate and narrow ; snout 

 pointed, ending in the acute extremity of a flexible pro- 

 longation. Mouth deeply cleft, interior surface closely 

 sprinkled with small round papillos ; teeth slender, conical, 

 acute, uniserial on jaws and palate, hooking backward, 



(114) 



