93 



or rudimentary, commencing a long distance posterior to the gill- 

 opening ; caudal continued round the end of tail. Pectorals absent. 

 Scaleless. 



Geographical Distribution. Seas of India to the Malay Archi- 

 pelago. 



Synopsis of Indian Species. 



Dorsal fiu commences before the vent ...... 1. M. schultzei, p. 93. 



Dorsal fin commences behind the vent ...... 2. M. vermiformis, p. 93. 



103. (1.) Maraenichthys schnitzel. (Fig. 40.) 



Munenichthys schultzei, Sleeker, Batavia, Nat. Tijdsch. xiii, p. 366 ; 

 Visch. Batav. p. 506 ; Day, Fish. India, p. 603, pi. clxix, fig. 3 * (see 

 synon.). 



Length of head 2| to 3 in the distance between the end of the 

 snout and the vent ; length of the trunk three fifths that of the 

 tail. Extent of cleft of mouth equals one third of the length of 



Fig. 4Q.Mur(enichthys schultzei and upper teeth. 



the head. Eyes of moderate size, situated midway between the 

 angle of the mouth and the end of the snout. Upper jaw some- 

 what the longer. Teeth in jaws pointed, in three rows, the inner 

 the larger ; the palatine teeth in two rows, with obtuse crowns. 

 Fins the dorsal low, commencing in the last sixth of the distance 

 between the gill-opening and the vent. Pectorals absent. Colour 

 brownish along the back, becoming of a yellowish greea on the 

 sides and below. 



Hob. Andaman Islands to the Malay Archipelago. 



104. (2.) Mnraenichthys vermiformis. 



Chilorhinus (Muraenichthys) vermiformis, Peters, MB. Ak. Wiss. 



Berl. 1806, p. 524. 

 Muraenichthys vermiformis, Day, Fish. India, p. 663 (see synon.). 



Angle of the mouth slightly posterior to the eye. Teeth in the 

 jaws and on the vomer in a single row. The origin of the dorsal 

 fin behind the vent. 



Hob. Ceylon. 



* A mistake has been made in the plate quoted. The name given for fig. 3, 

 Mur&na polyzona (ante, p. 83), belongs to fig. 5 and vice ven>d. 



