8 SYMPRANCHIATE AND APODAL FISHES 
ledge of the marine fauna of northern and western Aus- 
tralia is probably responsible for the omission of other 
species belonging to the family, the head-quarters of which 
are situated in the Malay Archipelago, from whence they 
have spread northward to Japan* and westward to the 
Ganges. 
Three genera of of Moringuide are here recognised, 
and since all may possibly occur on the Queensland coast, 
the subjoined analysis, which, taken in conjunction with 
the short family diagnosis given above, will greatly sim- 
plify identification, is arranged :— 
a. Dorsal and anal fins with distinct rays. 
6. Vertical fins continuous, the anal origirating near the vent ; pectoral 
fins minute or rudimentary .. .. PSEUDOMORINGUA. 
bb. Vertical fins interrupted mesially, the anal originating well behind 
the vent; pectoral fins present. .. .. MORINGUA 
aa. De=rsal and anal fins reduced to a low rayless fold, with a few feeble 
rays at the extreme tip of the tail only ; ;ectoral fins absent or ves- 
tigial. ms a ac .. APHTHALMICHTHYS. 
APHTHALMICHTHYS. 
Aphthalmichthys, Kaup, B. M. Catal. Apod. Fish., p. 105, 1856 (Vercrricvs). 
Body more or less vermiform and terete. Lateral line 
continuous, formed by a series of open, mucous pores. 
Head small or moderate, with narrow, pointed snout. 
Mouth with narrow, horizontal cleft, extending but little 
beyond the eye, the lower jaw the longer. Teeth in a 
single series on the jaws and vomer. Nostrils lateral, the 
anterior near the extremity of the snout, tubular; the 
posterior in front of and near the eye, oval and hori- 
zontal. Eyes small, anterior, indistinct. Gill-openings 
narrow, oblique, inferior. Vertical fins rudimentary, re- 
duced to a low fold of the skin ; a few feeble rays developed 
round the tip of the tail. Pectoral fins vestigiary or er- 
tirely wanting. Vent posterior, remote from the origin 
of the anal fold. Tail much shorter than the head and 
trunk. (3, privative; <dadyucs, eye; ixO’s, a fish.) 
*Jordan and Snyder (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., xx, 1901, p. 877) include 
two species—dAphthalmichthys abbreviatus and dA. javanicus—in their list 
of Japanese fishes, both of which probably came from the southern Riu-kiu 
Islands. They also remark of the family—‘‘ The genera are closely related 
and two of them—Moringua=Raitaboura =Stilbiscus and Aphthalmichthys 
—are found in the West Indies as well as in the East.” 
