232 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Classifica- 

 tion — Ma- 



lacopteri. 



Genus IX. Channomuk^na, Rich. (Tclithyophis teu Netta- 

 stoma, Itich,, oKm.) Nostrils lilie Murana; ("ace short and de- 

 pressed, but the gape of the mouth extremely wide and long. 

 Body cylindrical, without any vestige of the fold of the skin which 

 contains the dorsal rays in Slurana. Tail compressed and thinner 

 at the tip, where a few caudal rays are faintly perceptible. Teeth 

 slenderly subulate, in broad, dense, coarsely villiform plates. 

 One species. It is represented by figure 6. 



Genus X. Muii.enoblenna, Lacep. (Ichthyophis, Less., Rich. 

 partim.) Finless, like Gymnomur<cna, but differing wholly in the 

 teeth, which are slenderly subulate, rather tall, and thinly set. Vo- 

 merines irregularly biserial ; nasals, palatines and mandibulars tri- 

 serial. 



Gends XI. Pa5CiL0PHIS, Kaup. Mura'na?, with blunt or more 

 conical teeth; vomerines round, pavement-like. Hinder nostrils 

 fringed; front ones shortly tubular, not projecting over the lip. 

 Dorsal and anal fins not distinctly perceptible, and the species are 

 therefore to be distinguished from Gymnomurf^na by the numerous 

 rows of vomerine teeth. Six species, most of which are much 

 spotted. 



Genus XII. Gvmnomcr.ena, Lacep. Destitute of fins; blunt, 

 pavement-like teeth on the border and mesial line of the nasal 

 bone, crowded into a space shaped like the sole of a shoe. Pala- 

 tine bones rudimentary, supporting small teeth in two or three 

 rows. Body elongated, crossed by white bands. Two species. 



Genus XIII. Apthalmichthys, Kaup. Resembling J/orijijua, 

 but destitute of fins except at the point of the tail, where there is a 

 trace of rays. Eyes covered by the skin. Lower jaw thick and pro- 

 jecting beyond the snout. Nostrils sixort and tubular, the posterior 

 ones capable of being shut. Tail nearly equally thick throughout. 

 Kleven teeth in the upper jaw, the seven nasals being the longest; 

 five vomerines in one row ; ten or twelve mandibttlars. One species. 



Genus XIV. Uroptekygius, lliipp. Both jaws furnished with 

 two rows of fine teeth ; the teeth in the outer row being short, 

 with refiexed points, those of the inner ones straighter and twice as 

 high; vomerine teeth uniserial, recurved. The only fin is the cau- 

 dal, seated on the dilating tip of the tail. One species. 



Genus XV. Aptekichthys, Dura. (CWiVia, Lacep. ; Sphage- 

 branchus, Bloch, Cuv.) No fins. Snout lengthened beyond the 

 mandible; gill-openings near to one another, as in Sphagebraii- 

 chus ; anterior and posterior nostrils tubular. Body much elon- 

 gated ; tail slender. Teeth acicular and curved, and uniserial on 

 all the dentiferous bones. One species. 



Genus XVI. Prymnothonus, Rich. Founded on apencil draw- 

 ing of Dr Hooker's; has an acute snout, projecting a little be- 

 yond the mandible. Acute subulate uniserial teeth, not closely set. 

 Anal aperture near the head, a long even anal with some rays shown 

 posteriorly united to a radiated caudal ; a short dorsal fold also 

 united to the caudal. Gill-openings lateral, a small hole in the axilla 

 of what seems to be a small pectoral. No specimen of this form has 

 i-eached England. It appears to belong to this place. 



Genus XVII. Moringua, Gray. Greatly elongated Murana:, 

 with the mandible longer than the snout. Teeth distinct, acute, and 

 lecurved ; vomerines uniserial. The dorsal and anal fins commence 

 jiosterior to the anus, and disappear in the middle of their length, 

 reappearing and becoming higher than before at the end of the tail. 

 Three species. 



Family III.— ANGUILLID.E. 



Teeth card-like or villiform. Gill-openings lateral. Pectoral fins 

 conspicuous ; anal and dorsal fins encompassing the tip of the tail, 

 the former beginning generally at a consideraljle distance from the 

 head ; longish oval cycloid scales lying embedded in transverse and 

 oblique groups in the skin, so as to resemble lattice-work. No 

 species have as yet been detected that want the pectoral fins, like 

 the abrachial genera among the Murcenidw and Sunbranchid(s, The 

 AiujuillidcE are wholly or mostly anadromous fishes, some of them 

 remaining always in fresh water. 



Genus I. Anguilla. Forty-five species. 



Family IV.— CONGERID^, Kaup. 



A dorsal fin reaching up to the occiput ; a naked, scaleless skin ; 

 and, for the most part, a very long tail running to a point. Pec- 

 torals in some present, in others wanting; a cartilage in the lips. 



Genus I. Mur.enesox, M'Clell. Snout elongated like that 

 of a Gavial, whereof the dilated spoon-shaped nasal bone over- 

 passes the mandible ; the thin lips do not cover the front teeth. 

 Fore nostrils opening by short tubes near the narrowing of the 

 nasal bone ; hinder ones often pretty remote from them, placed 

 beneath the eyes. The large eyes placed nearly over the middle of 

 the jaws. Dorsal fin extending forwards to the base of the pec- 

 torals ; vomer elevated with a furrow in which the bigger teeth 

 Btand, and are accompanied by a row of small blunt ones. Sun- 



dry rows of teeth on the palatine and mandibular bones ; the C'lassifioa- 

 longest teeth are on the nasal bone and fore part of the mandible, tion Ma- 



GenusII. Conger, Cuv. Anterior nostrils opening by short lacopteri. 

 tubes close to the end of the snout ; posterior ones before the large y . / 



eyes. Palatine and vomerine teeth slender, but having chisel- ^ 



shaped crowns, and arranged in so close a series as to produce an 

 incisorial edge. Nine species. 



Genus III. Congi;rmurj5Na, Kaup. Posterior nostril a short 

 longitudinal slit before and above the Urge eye, which is over the 

 corner of the mouth. Teeth flatly rounded in a multitude of rows. 

 .Species three. 



Genus IV. Ukoconger, Kaup. Anterior nostril not tubular; 

 Jiosterior ones close before the eye like a small slit. A row of slit- 

 like pores on the border of the upper lip. Tail much elongated, slen- 

 der towards the end, and tapering to an acute point. Teeth (like 

 those of Myrus) very fine, and disposed in tw^o or three rows ; nasal 

 and palatine teeth in two rows; front upper jaw teetli boring 

 through the lips ; pectoral small and elongated. Gill-openings very 

 large, as compared with those of other genera in this family. One 

 ppecies. 



Section B.- — Cryptomycteres. 



The olfactory canal, running from the front nostril backwards 

 through the soft parts to the side of the mouth, opens by the pos- 

 terior nostril in the white integument within the border of the lip ; 

 in this respect resembling Lepidosiren. 



Family V.— OPHISURID^E, Kaup. 

 (a.) sub-family. — ophisurinje. 



Tail ending in a conical point, that separates the ends of the ver- 

 tical fins; no caudal fin. 



Genus I. Leivr.\nus, Bleek. A^o vomerine teeth ; uniserial 

 palatine teeth ranged in a crescent; mandibulars also uniserial; 

 upper jaw elongated like that of a shark ; mandible extraordinarily 

 short and round. Fore nostrils under the projecting snout ; hinder 

 ones in the lip beneath the eye, which is nearer the corner of the 

 mouth than to the point of the snout. Pectoral fins scarcely per- 

 cejitible. Point of the tail spinous. One species. 



Genus II. Centruropiiis, Kaup. Vomerine teeth uniserial or 

 sometimes sub-biserial ; nasal teeth beyond the point of the man- 

 dible. Pectoral fins pretty well developed. Six species. r ^^ 



Genus III. P(ecilophis, Kaup. Three nasal teeth, not im- ft*-!"^ 

 planted out of reach of the mandible ; three on the mesial line, the 

 foremost two smaller and side by side. Kleven palatine teeth in a 

 crescent, whose point touches the last of the mesial nasals; eleven 

 vomerines ; nineteen mandibulars ; teeth generally pointed, short, 

 and recurved. No cuticular processes on the upper lip. Head 

 roundish. Pectoral fins very short; dorsal commencing opposite 

 their bases. One species. 



Genus IV^. Micrddoxophis, Kaup. Very small pointed teeth, 

 biserial on the nasal and on the symphysial extremity of the man- 

 dible. Fins much developed. One species. 



Genus V. Ciecilophis, Kaup. Biserial teeth near the symphysis 

 of the mandible, and not elsewhere. Pectoral fins developed and 

 longer than the rictus of the mouth. Fore nostrils shortly tubular, 

 with a short tag on their under border. Dorsal fin commencing 

 over the points of the pectorals. One species. 



Genus VI. Ophisdrus, Kaup. Head small; snout slender and 

 elongated, its point passing beyond the mandible; gape of the 

 mouth very wide ; eyes near the corner of the mouth ; fore nostril 

 in the middle between the eye and end of the snout, indistinct and 

 without a tube ; and the hinder one rather on the outside of the 

 thin lip. The pectoral fin is about half as long as the mouth. 



Nasal teeth, five on the border of the bone, and nine longer ones 

 on the mesial line ; thirteen short and pointed ones on the vomer; 

 palatine teeth uniserial, anteriorly, becoming biserial under the 

 eye. One species. 



' Genus VII. Herpetoichthys, Kaup. Jaws nearly of equal 

 length ; snout bluntish ; gape wide ; eyes approximating to the 

 snout; head depressed, so that the eyes are rather more on the 

 dorsal than lateral aspect; front nostril-tubes at the end of the 

 snout, and the hinder ones at the commencement of the outer row 

 of palatine teeth ; between the two there is a small cutaneous flap 

 on the border of the lip. Pectoral fins pretty short. Six nasal 

 teeth ; from nine to thirteen vomerine ones. Three species. 



Genus VIII. Brachysomuphis, Kaup. Eye placed at the end 

 of the first fifth part of the length of the jaws, or one of its own 

 diameters from the tip of the snout; fore nostril tube extraordi- 

 narily short ; the hinder one a short tube on the inner side of the lip 

 under the eye; gill-openings very large, and approximated to one 

 another. Pectoral fins comparatively small. Border of the lips warty. 

 One species, B. horrUlvr, whose jaws are represented by figure 59. 



