27 brown rings, twice as broad as the interspaces between 

 them; each ring divided into two by a narrow circular white 

 line; dorsal fin coloured as the body underneath. Length 

 520 mm. [Type of the species in the British Museum seen by us]. 

 Habitat: Moluccos. - - Lord Howe Island (Waite). 



8. Brachysomophis Kaup. 



(KAUP, Cat. Apod. Fish 1856, p. 9) 

 (Brachysomophides Bleeker: All. Tchth. IV. 1864, p. 38). 



Elongate, more or less cylindrical. Anus somewhat before or be- 

 hind the middle of length. Dorsal commencing shortly or at some 

 distance behind gillopenings. Dorsal and anal ending at a short 

 distance before end of tail. Pectorals small or wanting. Head 

 moderate. Snout pointed; jaws equal or the lower jaw some- 

 what prominent. Cleft of mouth very wide. Eyes small, situated 

 very anteriorly and looking somewhat upward. Anterior nostrils 

 in a tube or surrounded by a prominent wall, posterior nostrils 

 in the upper lip, looking downward, before vertical through 

 frontborder of eye. Tongue not free. Teeth of unequal size; 

 caniniform on vomer and in mandibles; in the maxillaries 

 smaller, in a double or single series. Gillopenings lateral, 

 rather wide. 



Distribution: Tropical and warm seas of Atlantic, Indie 

 and Pacific. 



Key to the indo-australian subgenera. 



Pectorals present Brachysomophis Kaup (s. str.) p. 313. 



No pectorals Achirophichthys Bleeker p. 315. 



I. Subgenus Brachysomophis Kaup (s. str.). 



(Kaup, Cat. Apodal fish 1856, p. 9). 



Fig. 148. Brachysomophis cirrhochilus (Blkr.) (After BLEEKER). X Vs- 



