15 



teeth are arranged in alternate pain in the middle of the group, but the rest form a single 

 longitudinal row, decreasing in liie M they are placed anteriorly. The whole dentition pre- 

 funniilablc armature for selling and lacerating a resisting prey. 



Tin- -|" i -IMII n :i> caught Ml' Mali nili.i, iliinn- ihr |'.\|M iliti. .n \<* r\|,|,,i, 



tin ri\er Congo, under the command of Captain Tuckcy, in 1816. 



Presented by Dr. Leach, F.L.S. 



','. Tin r".llr-i , ,1 i ; lltnmi- :ilhl lirimil :iri'li - "I" tlir -kllll. \\llll tlir ItTt nilllll- nt ll,. 



lower jaw, of a large species of Munmoid Fish. 



It differs from the preceding in the minor development of the prefrontal processes for the 

 attachment of the palatines, in the greater length of the dentigerous groove of the vomer, and 

 in the greater length and slendcmess of the entire nasal segment of the skull. The crown* 

 of the teeth are subcompreased laterally, and have an anterior and posterior dentated edge. 



Mat. tint. 



40. The skeleton of a small Eel (Anptilla). The number of abdominal vertebra- is 



47 ; that of the caudal vertebra; is 70 : total, 117. Hmtteria*. 



41. The skull, wanting the scapular arch, of the Conger Bel (Anyuilla Conger). 



The prefrontals have coalesced with each other and with the nasal, which, in like manner, 

 has coalesced with the vomer. The parictala here meet and form a sagittal suture, Helta- 

 rating the occipital from the frontal. The mastoids extend forwards and divide the pont- 

 frontals from the frontals. The tympanic pedicle has coalesced into two pieces ; the \\\>\*-t 

 piece, answering to the epitympanic, pretympanic and mesotympanic, articulates above by 

 two widely separated condyles with the postfrontal and mastoid. The parocripital* an- un- 

 usually small, the scapular arch being very feeble and not directly articulated with them in 

 the Eel-tribe. The opercular bone articulates with a convex condyle at the back of the epi- 

 tympank. It is narrower than usual and curved upwards, showing its primitive character 

 as a modified ray of the tympano-mandibular arch. The subopercular retains still more the 

 character of a ray, and closely resembles one of the branchiostegal appendages of the hyoid 

 arch. The preopercular and interopercular bones have the ordinary form. Both glossohyal 

 and urohyal bones are much elongated. 



Huttterian. 



42. Eight abdominal vertebrae of the Conger Eel. 



The ncurapophyies rise vertically, parallel with each other, and arc connected together by 

 transverse osseous bridges : each neurmpophy i terminates in a free bifurcate extremity, so 

 that each centrum supports four spinous processes. The parmpophyses are large, triangular, 

 with plicated exterior surfaces resembling leaves. 



Hunlfria*. 



