21. OPHICHTHYS. 75 



eye rather small, one-half of the length of the snout, situated above 

 the middle of the mouth. Teeth small, uniserial, apparently in two 

 series on the vomer*. Lips .fringed. Gill-openings narrow and 

 close together. Fins moderately developed. The dorsal fin com- 

 mences at a short distance behind the angle of the mouth ; pectoral 

 fin one-fourth of the length of the head. Tail nearly twice as long 

 as the body. Brownish, lower parts whitish. 

 Australia. 



a. Seventeen inches long. Freemantle. 



C. Maxillary teeth equally small, forming baiids ; lips fringed. 



43. OpMchthys chinensis. 



Cirrhimursena chinensis, Kaup, Apod. p. 27. 



Ophisurus polyodon, Bleek. Act. Sac. Indo-Nederl. viii .Sumatra, viii. 



p. 8G. 

 Cirrhimursena polyodou, Bleek. Atl. Ichthyol. Mureen. p. 41, tab. 8. 



fig. 1. 



The length of the head is two-fifths or rather more than two-fifths 

 of the distance between the gill-opening and the vent. Snout pro- 

 duced, pointed, the cleft of the mouth being two-Jifihs of the length 

 of the head. Eye small, situated in the anterior fifth of the length 

 of the head. Teeth small, pointed, of equal size ; those of the inter- 

 maxillary and maxillary fonn a rather broad band, and those of the 

 vomer and mandible are arranged in a double or triple series f. 

 Lips fringed. Gill-openings rather narrow and close together. 

 Vertical fins moderately developed ; the dorsal fin commences above 

 the gill-opening ; pectoral Jin narrow and long, nearly one-half of 

 the length of the head. Tail twice or nearly twice as long as the 

 body. Coloration uniform. 



China, Sumatra. 



a. Type of the species, 7 inches long. China. 

 6. Type of C. polyodon, 11 inches long. Priaman. From Dr. 

 Bleeker's Collection. 



44. OpMchthys tapeinopterus. 



Cin'himura3na tapeinopterus, Bleek. Nederl. Tydschr. Dierk. p. 183 ; 

 or Atl. Ichthyol. Murcen. p. 41, tab. 8. fig. 3 ; ? Kner, Novara, Fisch. 

 p. 376. 



The length of the head is contained twice and a third in the dis- 

 tance of the gill-opening from the vent. Snout produced, pointed, 

 the cleft of the mouth being one-third of the length of the head. Eye 

 small, situated in the anterior fifth of the length of the head. Teeth 

 small, pointed, of equal size, forming a broadish band in the maxU- 

 lary, aud narrower ones along the vomer and mandibles. Lips 

 fringed. Gill-opciiings rather narrow and close together. Vertical 



* All the bones are luueh softened by the fluid in which the specimen has 

 been preserved ; and the teeth are very indistinct and partly dest'-oyed. 

 t Kaup's description is erroneous. 



