1. UlIYNCJIOISDELLA. o39 



Fam. 46. MASTACEMBELID.E. 



Acanthopterous Eels. 



Scomberoidei, pt., Cut: ^- Vol. viii. p. 441. 



Notacanthi, pt , Midi. Berl Ahhatull. 1844, p. 201 ; Owi-n, Lcct. Comp. 



Anot. Vert. i. p. 49. 

 Rhyncliobdelloidei, Bleek. Etium. Spec. p. xxiii. 



Body elongate, eel-like, covered with veiy small scales. Mandibula 

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

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

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

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

 side of the head. Gills four, pseudobranchioe none ; an air-bladder. 

 Branchiostegals 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 fiji is spinous. There is not one Scomberoid fish 

 to which they have any afl[inity, Avhich has been clearly shoAvn by 

 Miiller ; but he fell into much the same error as Corner did, when he 

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

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

 with Aulostoma and Notacanthus in one order. It is impossible to refer 

 Aulostoma and Fistularia to two different families, F. serrata having 

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

 See p. 535. 



SynojJsis of the Genera. 



Snout with an appendage, concave and trans- 

 versely striated inferiorly 1. RpVNCHOBDELLA, p. 539. 



Snout with an appendage, which is not trans- 

 versely striated 2. Mastacembelus, p. 540. 



1. RHYNCHOBDELLA. 



Mastacembelus, sp., Gronov. Zoophyl. p. 133. 

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

 Rhynchobdella, Cuv. 8f 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. Pra^oper- 

 culum not armed. 



Fresh watei's of the East Indies. 



