1. RUYNCnOliDELLA. 539 



Fam. 46. MASTACEMBELID.E. 



Acantliopteroiis Eels. 



Scomberoidei, pt., Cuv. Sj- Val. viii. p. 441. 



Notacanthi, pt , Midi. Bed. Abhandl. 1844, p. 201 ; Owen, Led. Cotirp. 



Anat. Vert. i. p. 49. 

 RhjTichobdeUoidei, Bleek. Einim. Spec. p. xxiii. 



Body elongate, eel-like, covered with very small scales. Mandibiila 

 long, only sKghtly moveable. Dorsal fin very long, the anterior por- 

 tion composed of numerous free spines ; anal fin with spines ante- 

 riorly. Ventral fins none. The humeral arch is not suspended from 

 the skuU. Gill-opening reduced to a slit at the inferior part of the 

 side of the head. GiUs four, pseudobranchias none ; an air-bladder. 

 Eranchiostegals six. Pyloric appendages two. 



Fresh waters of the East Indies. 



The structure of the mouth (not of the bones of the upper jaw) and of 

 the gill-apparatus, the separation of the humeral arch from the skull, 

 the absence of ventral fins, the anatomy of the internal parts, and the 

 whole habit, afford ample proof that these fishes are eels, in which a 

 part of the dorsal fin is spinous. There is not one Scomberoid fish 

 to which they have any afiinity, which has been clearly shown by 

 MiiUor ; but he fell into much the same eiTor as Cuvier did, when he 

 united these fishes with NotacantJius, a genus which has no affinity 

 whatever to the present family. Dr. v. Bleeker groups them together 

 with Auhstoma and Notamntlms in one order. It is impossible to refer 

 Aidostoma and FisiuJaria to two diff'erent families, F. scrrata having 

 dorsal spines ; but they are rudimentary, and hidden in the skin. 

 See p. 535. 



Synojjsis of the Genera. 



Snout with an appendage, concave and trans- 

 versely striated inferiorly 1. ElIYNCHOBDELLA, p. 539. 



Snout with an appendage, which is not trans- 

 versely striated 2. Mastacembelus, p. 540. 



1. EHYNCHOBDELLA. 



Ma8tacembelus, sp., Groiior. Zoophyl. p. 133. 

 Rhynchobdella, sp., Bl. Schn. p. 478. 

 RhjTichobdella, Cuv. i^- Val. viii. p. 444. 



Body elongate, eel-like, covered with very small scales ; head 

 elongate, pointed anteriorly, the upper jaw terminating in a long 

 moveable appendage, which is concave and transversely striated in- 

 feriorly. Cleft of the mouth narrow, with the lower jaw very little 

 moveable. Minute teeth in the jaws and on the vomer. ProDoper- 

 culum not armed. 



Fiesh waters of the East Inches. 



