54 CATALOGUE OF FISH. 



centric rings of cells. The lateral line is a continued porous tube, 

 and is conspicuous enough from the gill-opening to the end of the 

 tail. The whole skin is perforated by innumerable minute raised 

 pores, wbich are particulai'ly conspicuous on the inside of the 

 upper lip — the tongue and roof of the mouth looking, through a 

 lens, like villi. Upper lip, as if fringed by pores, which terminate 

 in a well-defined line running near the teeth. Dental surfaces 

 of the several bones, slightly convex, and set densely in a villiform 

 manner with short, slender, cylindrical, acute teeth, not ranged in 

 definite rows. The dental surfaces are broadest at the symphyses of 

 the jaws, and taper gradually towards the corners of the mouth. 

 The palatine bones flank the nasal bone to the edge of the snout ; 

 and, owing to their lateral position and the rounded form of the 

 snout, they do not run quite so far forward as the end of the nasal 

 bone. The mandible is slightly longer than the upper jaw. Pectoral 

 small. 



Length of a Tasmanian specimen, 17-5 in. To anus, 7-5 in. To 

 gill-opening, 2 in. Another specimen, from the Auckland Islands, 

 measures 19 in. To anus, 8'6 in. To gill-opening, 2'4 in. And 

 one from New Zealand, which was presented to the British Museum 

 by Dr. Sinclair, Colonial Secretary, measures 18 in. in length, 8*2 

 in. to the anus, and 2'3 in. to the gill-opening. This example is 

 proportionally thicker in the body, and its dorsal commences half 

 an inch before the anus, which is farther forward than in the others. 

 Its eyes are not symmetrically placed, the left one being over the 

 corner of the mouth, and the right one a little farther forward ; 

 but its dentition corresponds with australis, and I can detect no 

 specific differences. [Richardson.) 



107. Anguilla Dieffenbachii. 



Anguilla Dieffenbachii, J. E. Gray, Diejfenbach's Travels in New 

 Zealand, App. p. 225 ; Eich., Ereb. dTerr. p. 113. 



This eel has a larger pectoral than australis ; and in a specimen 

 17 in. long, the dorsal begins an inch before the anus. On the 

 head the pores are more distinct, and they are elevated on the 

 lateral line. The lips are more developed than in australis, and the 

 body is not so slender. 



New Zealand (British Museum, by Dr. Dieffenbach). 



A specimen in the Paris Museum has the dorsal extending a 

 little farther forwards. 



I have not been able to compare any of the Apodes of McClel- 

 land with the Indian species introduced into the preceding pages, 

 since I found no specimens of his either in London or in Paris. 

 This must, therefore, be my excuse if I have named as new any 

 species already described by him. 



