Aiun.EMD.E. ]y 



Fam. 28. MURyENIDiE. 



Miiranoidei, Miiller, Ahhandl. Ah. Wiss. Boii. 184G, 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 freshwritors and sons of the temperate aiii' 

 tropical regions. 



^ifi}0])iiis of the Groups and (renevn. 



First Subfamily. 

 MUR^NID^ PLATYSCHIST^. 



The branchial openings in the pharynx are wide slits. 



I. The tail is exceedingly elongate, the vent being close to the root of 



the jjecioraljins. Nostrils of each side close together, in a hollow 



in front of the eye A. NEMicninTiNA. 



Jaws produced into a long, slender bill 1. Nemichfhys, p.*2l. 



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



is situated immediately behind the gills. 



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



bones very thin. Stomach extremely disten.^ible. Gill-open- 

 ings separate B. Saccophartngina. 



Snout very short ; gape enormously wide 2. 8accopha7-yn,v, y>. 22. 



B. Gill-openings ventral, united into a longitudinal slit. Muscular 



and osseous systems vjell developed. Stomach very distensible. 



C. Synaphobranchina . 

 Pectoral and vertical fins well developed 3. Synaphobranchus, p. 23. 



C. Muscular and osseous systems well developed. Gill-openinqs 



separated by an interspace *. 



* Girard has described as a new genus and species a Myrichthys tigrinvs 

 from Adair Bay, Oregon (Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1859, p. .58), referring it to 

 Kaup's subfamily Myrophmce. However, he describes, " the nostrils approxi- 

 mate the apex of the rostrum ; the upper ones very small and placed o])posite 

 the inferior ones, which are consjiicuous nnd tubular;" so tliat it is a matter of 

 imcertainty whether this writer understood the character on which the family 

 " Oph.isnrid(p" was founded. 



c-2 



