352 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



perhaps identical with each other, (iariov, sail, i. e. dorsal fin; 

 gills ; from the insertion of the dorsal.) 



n. Pectoral fin longer than snout. BATHYBIUS, 578, 



act. Pectoral fin shorter than snout. INFKBNALIS, 579. 



578. HISTIOBRANCHUS BATHTBIUS, Giinther. 



Pectoral fin longer than snout ; eye | or f of the length of snout ; head 

 and trunk li in tail ; dorsal commencing above or immediately behind 

 the pectoral, which is only i length of head; scales quite rudimentary, 

 lanceolate, imbedded in the skin ; cheeks naked ; dorsal and anal fins low, 

 especially the former. Uniformly black. (Giinther.) Northern and west- 

 ern Pacific in deep water, Bering Strait, off Japan, and off Cape of Good 

 Hope. One specimen obtained by Dr. Gilbert in Bering Sea in 1890, 

 (Albatross Explorations), (fiadvc, deep; /?iof, life.) 



Synaphobranchus bathybius, GUNTHER, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xx, 1877, 445 ; and in Voy. Chal- 

 lenger, 254, pi. LXII, fig. b, 1887, off Yedo; North Pacific; Kerguelen Island. 

 Histiobranchus bathybius, JORDAN and DAVIS, Z. c., 673. 



579. HISTIOBRANCHUS INFERNALIS, Gill. 



Body moderately elongated and compressed ; its height at the anus -fifc 

 of the length. Head 9 in total length, its width a little less than one-half 

 its length ; snout moderate, less than greatest width of head ; eye moder- 

 ate, much less than one-half the snout ; upper jaw nearly one-tenth of 

 total length ; lower jaw a little more. Dorsal commencing not far behind 

 vertical from the root of pectoral; anal inserted a little nearer tip of 

 snout than end of tail ; both are moderately developed. Pectorals con- 

 siderably shorter than snout. Color in life almost uniform dark plum- 

 beous ; in alcohol the trunk is dark yellowish brown, becoming almost 

 black on the abdominal region, as well as on the intermandibular integu- 

 ments and around the pectorals, while the dorsal and anal are whitish 

 except towards the posterior fourth of the length, where they are very 

 dark or blackish. A specimen, No. 33279, was taken by the Albatross at 

 station 2037, in 1,731 fathoms, 38 30' N. 69 8' W. (Goode & Bean.) 

 (infernalis, infernal, from its black color.) 



Histiobranchus infernalis, GILL, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1883, 255, Gulf Stream, Lat. 38 30' N., 

 Long. 69 W., in 1,731 fathoms. (Type, No. 33279. Coll. Albatross.) GOODE & BEAN, Oceanic 

 Ichthyology, 145, fig. 165, 1895. 



Synaphobranchus infernalis, GUNTHER, Challenger Report, xxn, 254, 1887. 



Family XLVII. LEPTOCEPHALID.E. 



(THE CONGER EELS.) 



This family includes those eels which are scaleless, and have the tongue 

 largely free in front, the body moderately elongate, the end of the tail 

 surrounded by a fin, the posterior nostril remote from the upper lip and 

 near front of eye, and the pectoral fins well developed. All the species 

 are plainly colored, grayish or dusky above, silvery below, and the dorsal 

 edged with black. Genera 3,* species about 15, found in most warm seas, 



* As the osteology of most of the species is unknown, we can not say whether the MuriKnesocidse, 

 Echelidse, and Heterocongridse should really be separated from this group. Bleeker places al 1 these 

 genera with NeUastoma and Nemichthys, also in his family of Congroidei. Giinther approximate!? 

 Conger to Anguilla, while recognizing the allies of Mursenesox, Echetus, Heteroconger, and Nemichthys 

 as BO many distinct subfamilies. NeUastoma ho places with Neoconger and Mursenesox. 



