310 NEW-yORK FAUNA. 



ORDER IV. APODAL. 



No ventral fins. 



FAMILY ANGUILLID^. 



Body very much elongated and cylindrical, for the most part of a serpentif arm figure. Scales 

 scarcely apparent, being imbedded in a soft and thick skin. Air-bladder of various singu- 

 lar forms. No ccecal appendages. 



Obs. a very natural group, with numerous subdivisions, and comprising about one hundred 

 species. 



GENUS ANGUILLA. Cuvier. 



The dorsal fin commencing considerably behind the pectorals, and uniting with the anal to 

 form a caudal fin. Lower jaw longest. Mouth with a row of teeth in each jaw, and a few 

 on the anterior part of the vomer. 



THE COMMON NEW-YOEK EEL. 



AnGUILLA TENUIEOSTRIS. 



PLATE LHI. FIG. 173. 



Mwana anguiUa, Met. ScHCEPFP, Beschreib. u. s. w. Vol. 8, p. 138. 



The Common Eel, AnguiUa vulgaris. MiTCHiLL, Trans. Lit. and Phil. Soc. N. Y. Vol. 1, p. 360. 



The Fresh-water Eel. MiTOHiLL, Am. Month. Mag. Vol. 2, p. 241. 



Characteristics. Greenish olive above ; yellowish beneath. Head small, tapering to the jaws. 

 Length one to two feet. 



Description. Body long, cylindrical, compressed on the sides of the tail, which is pointed. 

 Surface covered with a thick mucus, concealing scales so exceedingly minute as to be visible 

 only in the dried skin under a lens. Lateral line straight, indistinct. Head small, flattened 

 above, and pointed ; lower jaw longest. Eyes rather large in proportion to the size of the 

 head, and placed just above the angle of the mouth. Nostrils horizontally oval, placed just 

 before the eye, and on a line with the upper part of the orbit ; a short tubular cirrus on the 

 anterior pair, on the edge of the upper jaw. Branchial aperture crescent-shaped, and just 

 before the base of the pectoral fin. Numerous series of mucous pores about the head. Teeth in 

 both jaws, numerous, small, acute and crowded ; resolving themselves into three or four rows 

 on the branches of the jaws, and forming on the anterior part of the upper jaw a large patch 



