72 



Common in the ditches and dikes of the salt-marshes. Mr. Jones 

 states* that it attains the weight of two or three pounds, and is very 

 destructive to young ducklings. It is not eaten. 



I obtained a specimen measuring five inches, which I refer with some 

 hesitation to the above species, as measurements made from speci- 

 mens contracted by strong alcohol are not satisfactory. The length of 

 the head is contained once and a half in the distance between the gill- 

 opening and the dorsal, twice in the distance between the gill-opening 

 and the vent. The distance between the origins of the dorsal and anal 

 is contained once and a half in the length of the head. 



MUR^NIDiE. 



GYMNOTHOEAX MOEINGA, (Cuvier) Goode. 

 Speckled Maray. 



Marccna maculata nigra (Black Murey), Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, arifl 



Bahamas, ii, 1743, 21, tab. 21, 174. 

 Murcena mori«//a, Cuvier, Regue Auinial, 1817. — Stoker, Syn.Fisli N.Am. 1846,235 

 Murcena morinfjua, Richardson, \^oy. H. M. S. S. Erebus & Terror, Icbth. 1846, 89. — 



Kaup, Cat. Apod. Fish. Brit. Mas. 1856, 89. 

 Gymnothorax rostratus, Agassiz, in Spix's Selecta Gen. et Spec. Brasil, 1829, 91, tab. 1, 



a. — MtJLL & TROSCH.,Schomburgk'8 Hist. Barbados, 1848, 676.— Poey, Rep. 



ii, 1860-1, 2.59, 427.— Cope, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. Phila. 1870, 483. 

 Murenophis rostratus, Castelnau, Anim. Nouv. ou Rares, Am^rique du Sud, 1855, 80, 



pl.xlii, f. 1. 

 Murenophis currilineata, Castelnau, o^). cit. 81, pi. xlii, f. 2. 



Occasional: the species occurs throughout the West Indies, at Bahia and 

 at Saint Helena. My specimen measures three feet, and Las tlie verti- 

 cal fins edged with white. These fishes are said to attain a length of five 

 or six feet, and are considered excellent food by the lower classes : I am 

 told, however, that serious cases of poisoning have been occasioned by 

 their use. The Speckled Maray is not rare, but by no means as common 

 as the Green Maray. I saw a single specimen of the latter, but as I could 

 not obtain it for study T was unable to determine its specific relations. 

 It resembles closely the " Muray " of Catesby, t which I have reason to 

 believe is not identical with his " Black Muray", as is generally sup- 

 posed. 



* Naturalist iu Bermuda, p. 103. 



tNat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and Bahamas, 20, pi. xx — Murcena maculata nigra 

 and vi7idis. 



