97 



" Very common at Madras. The boys catch it at the edge of 

 the surf by bruising a crab in their hands and throwing it into the 

 water, then walking about over the spot, and when they feel an 

 eel about their feet they stoop down and suddenly dash it on to 

 the sand with both hands. If thrown on the moist sand they bur- 

 row themselves, tail foremost, almost instantaneously." (Jerdon.) 



Hob. Seas and estuaries of Ceylon and up the Bay of Bengal, 

 certainly as high as Orissa. It attains at least a foot in length. 



109. (5.) Ophichthys ornatissimus. 



Herpetoichthys ornatissiinus, Kaup, Cat. Apodal Fish. p. 7, fig. 4. 

 OpHichthys ornatissimus, Day, Fish, India, p. 660 (see synon.). 



Length of head from snout to gill-opening 7 in the length of 

 the trunk ; length of tail rather less than that of the trunk. Head 

 depressed. Eyes near end of snout. Jaws of nearly equal length. 

 Teeth pointed, those on the maxilla and front of the vomer in a 

 double, the remainder in a single row. Fins dorsal low, com- 

 mencing behind the end of the pectoral, the latter with 24 rays 

 and about one fourth the length of the head. Colour irregular dark 

 spots on the head. One transverse and two longitudinal rows of 

 white spots on the occiput ; two curved whitish lines between the 

 eyes ; sixteen to seventeen large, round, black spots along the 

 lateral line, which are separated by another band of spots of dif- 

 ferent sizes. Dorsal fin with black marginal spots and stripes. 



Hob. Malabar, whence an example 20-8 inches long was brought 

 by Dussumier. 



10. Genus MORINGUA, Gray. 



Syn. Raitaborua, Gray ; Ptyobranchus, McClell. ; Pterurus, Swainson ; 

 Apldhalmichthys, Kaup ; Pscudomoringua, Bleeker. 



Body subcylindrical, with the trunk considerably longer than 

 the tail. Gill-openings rather narrow and inferior; heart far pos- 

 terior to the branchiae. Cleft of mouth narrow. The posterior 

 nostril situated in front of the eye. Teeth in a single row. Vertical 

 tins limited to the tail ; pectorals, if present, small. Scales absent. 



Geographical Distribution. Seas of India to the Malay Archipelago 

 and Japan. 



Synopsis of Indian Species. 



Length of head G to G in that of the trunk ; 



trunk longer than the tail 1. M. raitaborua, p. 98. 



Length of head 6J in that of the trunk ; 



trunk at least f longer than the tail . . 2. M. macrocephala, p. 98. 



