^22 FISHES. 



Mur. serpens, L. ; Salv. 57. (The Snake Eel). From five to 

 six feet and upwards in length, and of the thickness of a man's arm ; 

 brown above, silvery beneath ; the snout slender and pointed; twenty 

 rays in the branchial membrane. From the Mediterranean*. 



In others the pectorals are so extremely small, as sometimes to have 

 escaped tlie notice of observers. They connect the Eels with the Mu- 

 raena: their teeth are obtuse f. 



MiiR^NA, Thunb. — Gymnothorax, Bl. — Muh^nophis, Lacep. 



The Mursna, properly so called, have no vestige of pectorals; their 

 branchia? open on each side by a small hole; their opercula are so thin, 

 and their branchiostegal rays so slender and concealed under the skin, 

 that experienced naturalists have denied their existence. The stomach 

 is a short sac, and the natatory bladder small, oval, and placed near the 

 upper part of the abdomen. 



Those species which have a very visible dorsal and anal are the Mu- 

 renophis of Lacepede. 



Some of them have a single row of sharp teeth in each jaw. The most 

 celebrated is 



M. helena. L.; Bl. 153. (The Roman Mursena). Common in 

 the Mediterranean ; a fish much esteemed by the antients, who fed 

 it in ponds expressly constructed for that purpose. The history of 

 Vaedius Pollio, who caused his transgressing slaves to be flung alive 

 into these ponds as food for the Muraenas, is well known (a). It at- 

 tains a length of three feet and more, is mottled with brown and 

 yellowish, and is excessively voracious;]:. 



Others have two rows of sharp teeth in each jaw, independently of the 

 one on the vomer §. 



In a third kind there are two rows of round or conical teeth in each 

 jaw; such is in the Mediterranean species. 



M. Christini, Risso; M. unicolore, Laroche, Ann. Mus. XIII, 

 XXV, 15. Everywhere covered with close, small, brown points or 

 lines, which give it the appearance of being uniformly brown ||. 



* This is doubtless the place of Mur. ophis, Bl. 154, Ophis hyala, Buchan., pi. v, 

 f. 5; — Ophis longmuseau, Quoy et Gaym., Zool. Voy. Freycin., pi. 11, f. l;—Ophisurus 

 guttatus, Cuv., a new species from Surinam. 



N. B. The CoGRUS, Rafin , Nov. Gen., p. 62, must be Ophisuri without branchial 

 membranes; we fear there is some mistake in this as in his Echelus. 



f Mur. coluhrina, Bodd., or aiiuu/ala, Thunb., or Miirenuphis colubrina, Lac. V, xix, 

 1; — Mur. fasciata, Thunb.; — Mur. nob. maculosa, given under the name of Ophisuras 

 ophis, Lacep. II, vi, 2; — the Oph. atttrnan, Quoy et Gaym., Zool. Freycin., pi. 45, 

 f. 2. 



X Add, the M. moringu, Cuv., of the Antilles, Catesb. II, xxi; — M. punctata, BL, 

 Sehn.;— M. meleagris, Sh., ot M. vintade, Quoy et Gaym., Voy. Freycin., pi. 52, f. 2; 

 — M. Parthenon, Id., lb., f. 2; — M.fnvaginea, Bl., Schn. 105; — M. panther ine, Lacep., 

 or M. picta, Thunberj?. 



§ Murenophis gris, Lacep. V, xix, 3. 



il The other species are new. 



gg° (a) The Romans domesticated these fishes so as to teach them to approach 

 at a call. It is recorded of one of the nobles in antient Rome, that he went into 

 mourning for a Murtcna which he had lost. — Eng. Ed. 



