14 



Order II. MALACOPTERI. 



Suborder I. APODES. 



36. The skeleton of a Mediterranean Sea-eel (Murcend). There are no ribs in this 



genus. The number of abdominal vertebrae, characterized by prominent par- 

 apophyses, in the present specimen is 72 ; that of the caudal vertebrae, cha- 

 racterized by the coalescence of the parapophyses below the haemal canal, is 

 64 ; but some are wanting. Hunterian. 



37. The skeleton of the Muraena Helena, wanting the lower jaw and opercular bones. 



The number of the abdominal vertebrae is 72 ; that of the caudal, 72 : these 

 latter are characterized by transverse processes, in addition to the bent-down 

 and coalesced parapophyses. 



The caudal transverse processes are due to a progressive bifurcation of the parapophyses, 

 which, in the present skeleton, commences at the end of those of the twenty-fifth vertebra : 

 the divisions diverge as the fissure deepens, until, at about the seventy-third vertebra, the 

 lower portion descends at a right angle to the upper one, which remains as the transverse pro- 

 cess, and meets its fellow, with which it coalesces to form the haemal arch : from the point of 

 coalescence is developed the antero-posteriorly expanded haemal spine. 



Hunterian. 



38. The skull of a large species of Muraena (Mureena tigrina), wanting all the oper- 



cular bones except the preoperculum on the right side ; the outer surface of 

 this bone is excavated by large cells. 



The pterygoids are closely attached behind to the hypotympanics, but appear to have been 

 loosely connected by ligament with the vomer and palatines anteriorly. The jaws are up- 

 wards of four inches in length ; they are armed with a row of close-set strong conical teeth, 

 with the base extended transversely, and firmly anchylosed to the alveolar margin of the jaw, 

 and the apex narrowed off to a pointed and somewhat trenchant edge set lengthwise ; on the 

 outside of this row there is an irregular series of small conical teeth, and on the inside a 

 broader stripe of small granular teeth. At the extremity of the lower jaw two of the conical 

 teeth are developed to a size much exceeding the rest ; they are surrounded by smaller coni- 

 cal teeth which spread out like the prongs of a grappling-iron. These large terminal teeth 

 of the lower jaw are opposed to four similar large, conical, sharp-pointed, divergent fangs on 

 the expanded anterior extremity of the vomer. A longitudinal oval plate on the vomer sup- 

 ports twelve large and strong conical teeth, anchylosed by transversely extended bases ; these 



