344 Bulletin ^7, United States National Museum. 



snake-like, its resemblance to that of a serpent being enhanced by the 

 contracted neck-like appearance of the anterior portion of the body ; its 

 anterior portion depressed, the outline from above abruptly truncate; 

 width of tip of snout considerably greater than interorbital space. 

 Lower jaw narrower and included; upper jaw projecting beyond its tip 

 a distance nearly equal to diameter of eye. Length of snout one-third 

 that of head. Cleft of mouth extends behind eye a distance equal to or 

 slightly greater than diameter of orbit. Nostrils elongate, the exterior 

 slit occupying the middle third of the space between anterior margin of 

 orbit and tip of snout. Length of neck four-fifths that of head, equal 

 to distance from posterior limit of nostril to posterior portion of head. 

 Pectorals inserted high up, almost in median line, and composed of 2 or 

 3 flexible, filiform rays. Origin of dorsal about midway between vent 

 and tip of snout, the fin composed of flexible, delicate rays, not suffi- 

 ciently differentiated from the thin membrane to be easily counted, 

 those rays being longest in region above vent. Vent nearly median; 

 anal fin beginning immediately behind vent, similar in height and 

 appearance to dorsal fin, which it apparently joins at tip of tail. No 

 ventrals. Lateral line inconspicuous, with minute pores, though its 

 location is emphasized by the lancelet-like arrangement of the muscular 

 fibers. Length of type 8 inches ; of head, \ inch ; of region in advance 

 of pectorals, 1 inch; greatest height, seven-sixteenths of an inch. 

 Color, in life, ruddy brown ; in alcohol, light yellow. (Goode & Bean.) 

 A single specimen known, (serpentinus, like a snake.) 



Dericlithys serpentinus, GILL, Amer. Nat., xvin, 1884, 433, Gulf Stream, Albatross Station 

 2094, in 1022 fathoms. (Coll. Albatross.) GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic Ichthyology, 161, fig. 

 169, 1895. 



Order Q. APODES. 

 (THE EELS.) 



Teleost fishes with the premaxillaries atrophied or lost, the maxillaries 

 lateral, and the body anguilliform and destitute of ventral fins. The 

 most striking feature is the absence of the premaxillaries, taken in con- 

 nection with the elongate form and the little development of the scapular 

 arch, which is not attached to the cranium. Other characters not con- 

 fined to the Apodes are the following : The absence of the syrnplectic bone, 

 the reduction of the opercular apparatus and of the palatopterygoid arch, 

 the absence of ventral fins, the absence of the mesocoracoid or praecora- 

 coid arch, and the reduction or total absence of the scales. There are no 

 spines in the fins, the gill openings are comparatively small, and there 

 are no pseudobranchise. The vertebrae are in large number * and none 



* Numbers of vertebrse in Apodes. 



Mur&nesox coniceps 40 + 71 = 111. Lycodontis miicolor 65 -f 71 = 136. 



Anguilla anguilla 46 + 70 = 116. Mwrtena Helena 70 + 71 = 141. 



Echidna catenate 65 + 51 = 116. Ophichthm gomesi 45 + 96 = 141. 



Lycodontis meleagi-is 60 + 60 = 120. Lycodontis ocellatus 48+ 94 = 142. 



Lycodontis nebulomis 65 + 57 = 122. Lycodontis moringa 65 + 79 = 144. 



Lycodontis undulatus 64 + 68 = 132. Synaphobranchus pinnalus 31 + 115 = 146. 



Ophichthus oceUatus 52 + 82 = 134. Leptocephalus conger 55 + 99 = 154. 



Echidna zebra 97 + 38 = 135. Gordiichthys irretUus 125 + 100 = 225. 



