BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. i 
and the skull to a simple cartilaginous rod, fully justify 
its separation from the other symbranchoid genera, though 
in the reduction in the number of gill-arches and the rudi- 
mentary nature of the gill-fringes it approaches Mono- 
plerus. 
Writing of this fish (Fish. Ind., p. 655) India’s cele- 
brated ichthyologist, the late Surgeon-General Day, re- 
marks :—“ This amphibious fish, when kept in an 
aquarium, may be observed to constantly rise to the sur- 
face for the purpose of respiring atmospheric air direct. 
It usually remains with its snout close to the surface, and 
in like manner hes in the grassy sides of pools and stagnant 
pieces of water, so that without trouble it may obtain 
its modicum of air.’ In fact, the principal accessory 
breathing organ, which, in the form of a lung-like sac, lies 
along each side of the throat, and communicates with the 
gill-cavity, is so beautifully arranged that it performs the 
principal functions of respiration, being emptied or in- 
flated at the will of the individual. When distended with 
air these sacs have the appearance of a pair of rounded 
cushions, one on each side of the throat. 
ORDER APODES. 
MORINGUID &. 
THE SHORT-TAILED EELs. 
Tongue present ; gill-openings narrow and _ inferior ; 
heart far behind the gills ; vertical fins confined to the tail, 
which is very short ; pectoral fins small or wanting. 
The moringuids form a small and compact group 
of -enchelycephalous eels, having affinities on the one side 
to the Ophichthyide, on the other to the Murenide. No 
species has hitherto been recorded from the Australian 
seas, and the announcement, now made, of the occurrence 
of an Aphthalmichthys on our northern coast is entirely 
due to the acumen of Mr. George Masters, who first called 
my attention to the specimen—which is exhibited in the 
collection of the Macleay Museum, Sydney University— 
and assured me that to his personal knowledge it came 
from the ”’ North Coast of Australia, probably Port Dar- 
win.” There is nothing remarkable in the presence of a 
moringuoid eel in our waters ; indeed, our lack of know- 
