MUR.'KNID.i;. 69 



row of 10-12 teeth in the middle of the vomer. Anotlier, a stuffed 

 one sent from Pondicherry, by Lcschenault, shows two distinct 

 rows which, towards the gullet, run into one series. I consider 

 two rows of vomerines to be the normal number. These unusual 

 deviations struck me the more strongly because I had held such 

 to be of suificient importance to furnish characters for a lesser 

 group. I comi)ared, therefore, both specimens with the greatest 

 care, but I could not find reasons for separating them specifically. 

 Both have the rest of the teeth perfectly alike, both have the same 

 markings enclosed iu a whitish-coloured net-work, which en- 

 circles about six black spots on the flanks. Tail and trunk of equal 

 length. 



Total length, 28-26 in. Length of tail, 14-18 in. To the gill- 

 opening, 3-78 in. Length of the jaws, 1-69 in. 



Asia. Hindostan. 



129. MUE.ENA TIGRINA. 



Muraena tigrina, Ruppell, Atlas, t. 30, f. 2. 



Dr. Piiippell, in the account of his travels, describes a young 

 specimen of this Mnrcvna, and in the Paris Museum, I found a 

 skin of the same which was sent from the Pied Sea by M. Botta. 

 It presents 12 long arched nasal teeth, with small ones between 

 them ; 3 on the mesial line ; palatines, 17, the longest of which are 

 situated under the eye ; mandibulars, 20, and 6 larger ones in front, 

 whereof 2, placed at the symphysis, are shorter and bluntly conical ; 

 vomerines, 9 in the left-hand row, 5 on the right-hand one ; the 

 rows uniting posteriorly. Along the tail there are three rows of 

 black spots, as described by Piiippell, but there are also, as an old 

 individual distinctly shows, a large number of big spots on the 

 throat. 



130. MCR.ENA MULLEEI, fig. 54. 



Nasal teeth, 12; palatines, 11-12; mandibulars, 22, all pretty 

 well developed ; vomerines, 1 2, short, conical, and rather obtuse, 

 disposed in an irregular row, in some places two-ranked. This 

 species comes near to M. similis (No. 117), but differs in having 22 

 teeth on the mandible, and also in its colour and markings. Eye 

 round, pretty large, contained twice and a little more in the length 

 of the elongated snout, and more remote from the tip of the latter 

 than from the angle of the mouth. Dorsal originating before the 

 gill-opening. Colour of the body dull brown, lighter on the lower 

 parts ; behind and below the eye irregularly spotted witli white. 

 Pores of the upper jaw, and mandible, bordered with white. This 

 species is named after the renowned traveller, Dr. S. Miiller. 



Malayan Archipelago (Leyden Museum). 



