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SC) 
THE GYMNOTID EELS OF TROPICAL AMERICA. ] 
(8) Rhamphichthys rostratus (Linneus). 
Snout produced, long, and tubular; mouth quite small, terminal and inferior; 
teeth wanting; size large, approaching six feet. 
The stomachs of three adults of this remarkable species were examined. In 
addition to a large amount of mud they contained 612 annelids. 
Locality. | Length. Insect Larvee. Adult Insects. Annelida. Amphipoda. 
\iiiinies comaoaeaanonenoccee | 900 SO meme lNhyaehs er ety ers rec 148 1 
\WRSHOTTE, o Gen acces pop ome nee 750 | 9 | 1 | 214 | 
NGA ue steel 580 40 (esrb ati es oe 250 
Tick ee g2 | 1 612 1 
The annelids were all small mud-inhabiting worms, resembling Tubifex. The 
eighty-two insect larvee were identified as seventy-one Diptera (a form much like 
the “Blood Worm”’) and eleven uncertain. The single adult insect was a small 
Gyrinid and the Amphipod a tiny specimen in general shape similar to Hucrangonye. 
The small mouth of this species (in even the largest specimen examined it barely 
admits a lead pencil), the large amount of mud in the stomach and the nature of 
the food indicate that this species probably feeds by sucking up quantities of mud 
with the animals inhabiting it. 
Kaup” in 1856 wrote concerning the genus Rhamphichthys (which then in- 
cluded Hypopomus as well): “Judging from the narrowness of their toothless mouth, 
these fish must subsist on small insects.” 
(1) Sternarchus albifrons (Linneus). 
Snout heavy and blunt; teeth in both jaws minute, conical; mouth large; size 
moderate, not exceeding 500 mm. 
The stomach of a specimen of this species 285 mm. long contained one small 
Characin, two freshwater shrimps, and one large insect larva (perhaps a Gomphid). 
From the stomach of a second smaller specimen, 105 mm. long, nineteen ento- 
mostraca and three large insect larvee were taken. 
(2) Sternarchus brasiliensis Reinhardt. 
Similar to the S. albifrons, but slenderer. In the stomach of an individual of 
this species 290 mm. long from Pirapora two small freshwater shrimps and a 
quantity of vegetable debris were found. 
(3) Sternarchus hasemani Ellis. 
Mouth moderate; size small; otherwise much as S. albifrons. 
Two stomachs of this species were examined. One taken from a specimen 
160 mm. long contained twenty-seven entomostraca, two larve of insects and 
” Kaup, Apod. Fish Brit. Mus., 1856. 
