392 Bulletin 47, United States National Museum. 



upper jaw bluntisk and turned backward as in E. panamensis ; snont 

 short, bluntish; eye large; head 2f in trunk, 8f in total; gape short. 

 Color purplish brown, finely mottled with darker, the markings faint. 

 Tropical Atlantic off the West Indies ; two small specimens recorded. 

 (longus, long; cauda, tail.) 



Mursena longicavda, PETERS, Berliner Monatsberichte, 1876, 850, Open Atlantic, with Sphagc- 



branchus anguiformis. 

 Gymnothorax longicauda, JORDAN & DAVIS, I. c., 599. 



190. LYCODONTIS, McClelland. 



Lycodontis, MCCLELLAND, Calcutta Journ.* Nat. Hist., v, No. xviu, 1844, 173, (liter aia = tile). 



Thserondotis, MCCLELLAND, 7. c., v, No. xviu, 1844, 174, (reticuldta = tessellata). 



Sidera, KAUP, Apodes, 70, 1856, (pfeifferi). 



Eurymyctera, KAUP, I c., 72, (cnidelis). 



Polyuranodon, KAUP, 1. c., 96, (kuhli = polyuranodon). 



Teeniophis, KAUP, Aule Hamburg Mus., Nachtrage, 10, 1859, (westphaU = funebrit). 



Priodonophis, KAUP, Aalenahnliche Fische Hamburg Museum, 22, 1859, (ocellatus). 



Neomursena, GIRARD, U. S, Mex. Bound. Surv., Fishes, 76, 1859, (nigromarginata =.ocellatu). 



Pseudomureena, JOHNSON, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1860, 167, (madeirensis). 



Gymnothorax, GUNTHER, Cat,, vnr, 100, 1870, (meleagris, etc.). 



This genus, as here understood, comprises the great bulk of the Murce- 

 nidce, including all the species with sharp teeth, thebody normally formed, 

 the anterior nostrils only tubular, and the dorsal fin beginning on the 

 head. Priodonophis with serrated teeth has been recognized as a distinct 

 genus by Bleeker, but the character in question disappears by degrees 

 and seems not to be suitable for generic distinction. The Morays of this 

 genus are everywhere abundant in the tropical seas, where some of them 

 reach a great size. They are the most active and voracious of the eels, 

 often showing much pugnacity. Most of them live in shallow water about 

 rocks or reefs. (AVKOS, wolf; bdovg, tooth.) 

 LYCODONTIS : 

 a. Teeth all entire, with no serrations anywhere, and none of them with basal lobes. 



b. Body without black transverse bands, or very large, irregularly placed black spots, 

 c. Body without small, round, bluish white or yellow spots, the spots, if any, blackish 

 or dull grayish ; dorsal without distinct paler margin, or with merely the very 

 edge whitish. 



d. Dorsal with a distinct black margin ; anal with a pale edge ; teeth uniserial. 



e. Color nearly plain brown, finely freckled ; 13 teeth on side of lower jaw ; 



tail equal to head and trunk. VERRILLI, 644. 



ee. Color brownish, finely mottled with darker brown ; 22 teeth on sides of 



lower jaw ; tail longer than head and trunk. VICINUS, 645. 



dd. Dorsal without distinct, darker margin, its border colored nearly or quite like 



rest of fin. 



/. Body and tail covered with close-set dark points ; tail longer than rest of 

 body. VIRESCENS, 646. 



* There is in America only one complete set of the Calcutta Journal of Natural History, and 

 that is in the Library of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. In Vol. v of this 

 Journal is found McClelland's paper upon the Apodal Fishes of Bengal, in which several new 

 generic and specific names are proposed. We are indebted to Mr. Witmer Stone, of the Phila- 

 delphia Academy, for kindly transcribing portions of that paper for us. 



According to Mr. Stone the name Lycodontis occurs on page 173, of Vol. v, and three species 

 are assigned to it, viz: literata (= tile, p. 112, Vol. vm, of Giinther's Catalogue), punctata (= tile, 

 ibid. Giinther), and longicaudata (= sathele, p. 126, Giinther). 



The name Thserodonfis occurs, with diagnosis, on page 174, one page later than Li/codontis, and 

 but one species, reticulata (= tessellata. p. 106, GUnther). Of these two names, Ly'codontis must 

 take precedence of Thserodontis. 



