iirHJENin.K. J t) 



Fam. 28. MUR^NID^. 



Murrenoidei, Miiller, Ahhandl. Ah. JViss. Beii. 1840, p. 193. 



Body elongate, cylindrical or band-shaped, naked 

 or with rudimentary scales. Vent situated at a great 

 distance from the head. Ventral fin none. Vertical 

 fins, if present, confluent, or separated by the project- 

 ing tip of the tail. Sides of the upper jaw formed by 

 the tooth-bearing maxillaries, the fore part by the in- 

 termaxillary, which is more or less coalescent with the 

 vomer and ethmoid. Humeral arch not attached to 

 the skull. Stomach with a blind sac ; no pyloric appen- 

 dages. Organs of reproduction without efferent ducts. 



Inhabitants of the freshwaters and seas of the temperate and 

 tropical regions. 



Sjinopsh of the Groups and Gevern, 



First Subfamily. 

 MUR^NIDiE PLATYSCHIST^. 



The branchiar openings in the pharynx are wide slits. 



I. The tail is CA-cccdingly elongate, the vent being close to the roof of 



the pectoral fins. Nostrils of each side close' toqether, in a hollow 



in front of the eye A. NEiriCHTHTrNA. 



.Taws produced into a long, slender bill 1. Nemichfhys, p. 21. 



II. The tail is longer or not much shorter than the trunk. The heart 



is situated immediatehj behind the gills. 



A. Tail exceedingly long. Muscular system very feebly developed ; 



hones very thin. Stomach extremely distensible. ' Gill-open- 

 ings separate B. Saccophartngixa. 



Snout very short ; gape enormously wide 2. Saccopharynx, u. 22. 



B. Gill-openings ventral, tmited into a longitudinal slit. 3Iuscular 



and o.iseous .systems well developed. Stomach very di.stensible. 



C. SYNArnoBRANCniNA. 



Pectoral and vertical fins well dereloped 3. Si/iiajihohranckus, -p.^^i. 



C. Muscular and osseous systems ivell developed. (,fill-openin,)s 



separated by an interspace *. 



* Girard has described as a new genus and species a Mi/rwhiln/s tiarhnm 

 froni Adair Bay, Oregon (Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Pliilad. 18.^>9, p. f)A), referring it to 

 Kaup's subfamily Myrophina;. However, ho describes, " tlie nostrils approxi- 

 niaU; the apex of tlic rostrum ; the upper ones very small and placed opposite 

 tlie mferior ones, which are cons)ncuous and tubular;" so that it is a matter of 

 uncertainty whether this writer understood the character on which the faiuilv 

 " Ophimiridce" was founded. ^ 



c 1' 



