140 NATURAL HISTORY. 



dorsalis a small fish, found in Australia and Tasmania. It has the vent in the anterior half of 

 the body, the stomach is large, there are no teeth on. the palate, and those on the jaws are in single 



series. 



FAMILY XXVIII MUR^ENID^E. 



The Mursenidse are a large group of fishes, presenting no small amount of variation in the details 

 of their structure. The long body is sometimes cylindrical and sometimes compressed like a band. 

 In certain genera it is naked, in others defended with rudimentary scales. Both maxillary and 

 pre-maxillary bones carry the teeth in the upper side of each jaw, and the ventral fins are always 

 absent. Dr. Giinther groups the genera into two sections, the first distinguished by the branchial 

 openings into the pharynx being wide slits, while in the second group those slits are narrow. The 

 former group is the more important, and includes the majority of the genera. 



The first type in the family is the Nemichthys scolopacea, in which the body is band-shaped, and 

 the tail exceedingly long and tapering to a point. The vent is near to the root of the pectoral fins, the 

 jaws are elongated into a slender bill, the inner surface of which is covered with small teeth, which 

 are little more than asperities. 



The dorsal fin commences behind the head. This fish occurs in the Atlantic. A specimen thirty- 

 three inches long has the head three inches long. 



The second type has the tail longer than the trunk, the bones are thin, and the muscular system 

 is moderately developed. It is represented by the single species Saccopharynx flagellum, which Dr. 

 Giinther describes as a deep-sea Conger Eel. The snout is very short and the gape immense. The 

 stomach is capable of being distended to an amazing extent ; the vent is at the extremity of the trunk. 

 This fish is known from Madeira and adjacent parts of the Atlantic. It is perfectly black, and 

 reaches a length of about nine feet, the greater part of which is formed by the tail. 



The third type is furnished by Synaphobranchus pinriatus, a deep-sea fish from Madeira, with a 

 scaly body, wide gape, extensible stomach, and well-developed fins. 



The fourth type is characterised by having a fin surrounding the end of the tail. It includes such 

 genera as Anguilla, Conger, Congromurseiia, and Uroconger. 



In the genus Anguilla, or true Eels, small scales are imbedded in the skin, the teeth are arranged 

 in bands, and the dorsal fin does not extend forward to the back of the head. The Eels range all 

 over the world, except into the Arctic regions. The Anguilla bengalensis extends through the rivers 

 of the Indian Continent ; the Fiji Islands contribute a peculiar species from three to four feet long ; 

 the north-east of Australia, and the Zambesi, Amboyna, the Seychelles, and many other localities 

 have their characteristic forms ; while others, like the Anguilla australis, range over a wide area, as 

 from New Zealand to Timor, or, like the Anguilla bostoniensis, range from Boston to China and 

 Formosa. The best known of the Eels is the common European species. 



THE SHARP-NOSED EEL.* 



The ordinary weight of a large Eel is about four pounds, but examples have been caught in the 

 Medway weighing as much as from thirty-five to forty pounds, and measuring six feet in length. 

 Coach, indeed, instances a printed record of an Eel that weighed sixty-two pounds, but confesses his 

 doubts as to the statement being trustworthy. The form of the Eel is very similar to that of a Snake. 

 The. fish inhabits most of the rivers, ponds, and lakes in England, and especially abounds in the 

 Cambridgeshire fens, where in monastic times it was often a principal item of food. Eels for the 

 London market are largely imported from Holland. The common Eel has been kept in confinement 

 for at least thirty years ; it lies torpid in the winter, and though it may move on the bottom during 

 fine days, takes no food. They eat but little in the spring, but as soon as the warm weather begins 

 develop an almost insatiable appetite, subsisting chiefly on worms. They become quite tame, and 

 take food from the hand. Towards autumn, they often leave the water, but by the beginning of 

 September retreat to their winter resting places under the stones. When in the rivers, the adult Eels 

 make an autumn migration, probably for the purpose of depositing the spawn, but it is uncertain whether 

 they go merely into brackish water or far out to sea. There is also a spring migration, and most writers 

 concur in stating that at this time the young Eels travel up the streams. During the cold part 



* Anguilla vulgar is. 



