end of tail. Pectorals wanting. Head short or moderate; snout 

 pointed, projecting beyond mouth, the. cleft of which reaches 

 behind or far behind eye. Lips without filaments. Eyes small, 



Fig. 153. Sphagebranchus polyophthalmus (Blkr.) nat. size. 



Small figure: anterior part of head magnified: a anterior nostril, 



/ labial papilla outside of slit of posterior nostril. 



situated before or above the middle of the cleft of the mouth. 



Posterior nostrils a slit in the border of the upper lip, looking 



a downward; anterior nostrils 



in a tube at the border of 

 the upper lip or at the ventral 

 surface of the prominent part 

 of the snout or they are slits 

 in a low papilla on the last- 

 Fig. 154. Ventral view of gillopenings named place. Teeth pointed, 



Cg) with the anterior and superior dupli- un i ser ial, those of the VOmer 

 cature d of the gillmembranes of a. Sflhage- , , . . , ... 



branchus polyophthalmus (^^bJphage- maV be *&***! e ^ ual in S1ZG 



bronchus orientalis (Me Clell.). or the vomerme ones are 



stouter. No scales, lateral line 



present. Gillopenings small, close together, ventral, longitudinal, 

 oblique or vertical; the gillmembrane may form anteriorly a 

 duplicature (see figure 154). 



Distribution: Temperate and tropical seas. They burrow 

 in sand. Some species entering fresh water. 



Key to the indo-australian species 

 Sphagebranchus. 



I. Gillopenings ventral, oblique or longitudinal 

 slits, anteriorly (superiorly) provided with a dupli- 

 cature of the gillmembrane (see figure 154). 



Of 



