Order vi. Apodes. 



The Eels. 



Body eel-shaped; premaxillaries atrophied or lost, the maxillaries 

 lateral; vertebrae numerous, no to 250, the anterior ones not mod- 

 ified; no ventral fins; tail isocercal; gill openings comparatively 

 small, lateral. To this order belong the larger number of our eel- 

 like fishes. 



Family VIII. Aiigiiillidse. 



Body elongate, eel-shaped; skin covered with rudimentary em- 

 bedded scales, usually linear in form, arranged in small groups, and 

 placed obliquely at right angles to those of neighboring groups; pec- 

 toral and vertical fins well developed, the latter confluent around the 

 tail; gill openings lateral and vertical; teeth in cardiform bands on 

 jaws and vomer. 



39. Anguilla Shaw. 

 Common Eel; Anguilla. 



Anguilla Shaw, General Zoology, iv, 15, 1804. (Type, Mur&na 

 anguilla Linnaeus.) 



Body elongate, compressed posteriorly; head long, conical, moder- 

 ately pointed, the rather small eye well forward and over the angle of 

 the mouth; teeth small, subequal in bands on each jaw and a long 

 patch on the vomer; lower jaw the longer; gill openings rather small, 

 slit-like, and partly below pectorals; lateral line well developed; nos- 

 trils well separated, the anterior with a slight tube; dorsal fin con- 

 fluent with anal around tail; pectorals well developed. 



85. Anguilla chrysypa Rafinesque. Common Eel; Anguilla; 



Fresh-water Eel. 



Anguilla, chrysypa Rafinesque, Amer. Mon. Mag. & Crit. Rev., 



1 81 7, 120; Lake George; Hudson River; Lake Champlain: 



Jordan & Evermann, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1896, 348. 



Anguilla tyranmts Girard, Mex. Bd. Sur., 75, pi. XL, 1859; Mata- 



moras; mouth of the Rio Grande. 

 This species is quite abundant in all streams east of the Rocky 

 Mountains from Canada to Tampico; it is also common in salt and 

 brackish water along the adjacent coasts, and in the West Indies. 

 (San Juan.) 



90 



