348 



in which case the colour is reticulated or marbled. Generally 

 a dark patch at corner of mouth. Length to 550 mm. [A specimen 

 of BLEEKER'S collection seen by us]. 



Habitat: Java; Celebes; Ambon!; Ternate; Buru; Ceram; 

 Waigeu!; Rotti!; Timor; Cocos Island. -- From Red Sea to 

 Pacific Islands, Formosa and the Riu Kiu Islands. 



On reefs and near shore. 



3. Echidna xanthospilus (Blkr.). 



Muraena xanthospilos Bleeker, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Indie XIX. 1859, p. 348. 

 Poccilophis ornata Kaup, Aalahnl. Fische, Hamburg 1859, p. 28. 

 Echidna xanthospilus Bleeker, Atl. Ichth. IV. 1864, p. 79. 



Muraena xanthospila Giinther, Cat. Brit. Mus. VIII. 1870, p. 131. Fische 

 d. Siidsee, Heft IX. 1910, p. 423. 



Height 13.5 14.5; head 7 7.6, 2.6 2.7 in trunk. Tail more 

 or less than 1.2 in head and trunk. Eye 10 15, twice or 

 thrice in length of snout. Snout 6 7 times in length of head. 

 Cleft of mouth 2.6 to 3.7 times in head, reaching far behind 

 eye. Dorsal begins in advance of the gillopenings, its height 

 rather low. Teeth obtuse, granular; in the maxillaries in one 

 series, when young in an outer series of about 10 and in an 

 shorter inner series of 2 5. Mandibulary teeth in 2 3 series, 

 the anterior inner teeth much stouter but conical. On the 

 vomer anteriorly in 3, posteriorly in 2 irregular series; on the 

 intermaxillary plate a horseshoe-shaped series of large conical 

 teeth, with a few central ones. In alcohol lighter or darker 

 brown with numerous yellowish round or oval patches and 

 irregular streaks, much larger than the eye, especially on the 

 lower surface. Length 750 mm. [A specimen of BLEEKER'S 

 collection in the Leiden Museum seen by us]. 



Habitat: Java; East Indies (Kaup). Samoa. 



4. Echidna nebulosa (Ahl). 



Muraena nebulosa Ahl, Dissert, de Muraena et Ophichtho 1789, p. 5. 

 Gymnothorax echidna Bloch, Schneider, Syst. Ichth. 1801, p. 526. 

 Gymnothorax ncbulosus Bloch, Schneider, 1. c. p. 528. 

 Muraena op his Rttppell, Atl. Reise Nordl. Afrika, Fische, 1828, p. 116. 

 Echidna variegata J. R. Forster, Descr. anim. ed. Lichtenstein 1844, p. 181. 

 Thaerodontis ophis Me Clelland, Calcutta Journ. .Nat. hist. V. 1844, p. 217. 

 Muraena variegata Richardson, Voy. Erebus & Terror, Fish. 1844, p. 94. 

 Muraena variegata Bleeker, Nat. Tijdschr. Ned. Indie III. 1852, p. 295. 

 Verh. Batav. Gen. XXV. 1852, Muraenoid. p. 47. 



