240 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
30. Gymnothorax flavomarginatus (Riippell). 
A young specimen, 8 inches long, from Calayan. In this specimen, as in young individuals of the 
same size from Apia, Samoa, the ground color is very dark, the small spots being scarcely distinguishable 
in the nearly uniform blackish of the ground. There isa dark streak at the angle of the mouth and the 
gill-opening is in the middle of a black spot; tip of caudal white. 
31. Gymnothorax richardsonii (Bleeker). 
Gymnothorax richardsoni, Bleeker, Atlas, Murn., 100, pl. XLU, fig. 2, 1864. 
Gymnothorax scoliodon, Bleeker, op. cit., 101, pl. XL, fig. 2. 
Gymnothoraz ceramensis, Bleeker, Ned. Tijds. Dierk., 1, 1863, 261; Atlas, Murzen., 101, pl. xx x11, fig. 3, 1864. 
? Murznophis lineatus Lesson, Voy. Coquille, 127, pl. 01, fig. 1, 1830; Oualan (figure very poor). 
Murena richardsonii Bleeker, Nat. Tijds., 1, 1852, 296; Wahai, Ceram, Padang, Sumatra. 
Body slender, compressed, the depth at vent and at middle of tail about same, 18 in total length; tail 
a little longer than body; dorsal beginning a little in advance of gill-opening, not conspicuously higher 
on tail than on trunk, its greatest height considerably less than half the depth of the tail directly beneath; 
tail long, slender, and tapering, the dorsal and anal bordering it symmetrically and meeting in the middle 
line behind in an acute tip. 
Body and fins crossed by many narrow vertical broken streaks or bands of dark color, more or less 
broken into vermiculations, especially forward; corner of mouth with a dark streak, above and below 
(in front) which is a larger light spot; chin pale. 
One specimen, 8 inches long, from Sibuyan. 
This species seems to be different from Lesson’s flaveolus,2 and perhaps also from his lineatus,> 
both of which species are said by Lesson to have an especially elevated dorsal fin. Specimens from” 
Apia, Samoa, referred by Jordan & Seale to Gymnothorax lineatus, have the height of the dorsal more than 
half the depth of the tail underneath, and the body is less slender and the tail stouter and much less 
tapered than in Gymnothorax richardsonii, as shown in Bleeker’s figure of both this and ceramensis. In 
the Apia specimens the caudal border, also, is broadly and asymmetrically rounded, not pointed, being 
most developed ventrally. Lesson’s figures, though evidently very poor in details, show two eels of quite 
different relative length. It seems that the Apia specimens are more likely to be flaveolus than lineatus, 
the latter being represented as the slenderer fish in the figure. It seems quite possible that lineatus may 
not be different from Bleeker’s richardsonii. Gymnothorax detactus Bryan & Herre appears likewise to be 
scarcely, if at all, different from the present species. 
32. Gymnothorax petelli (Bleeker). 
Murzna petelli Bleeker, Nat. Tijds., x1, 1855, 84; Java. Giinther, Cat., vit, 1870, 105; Java, Mauritius. 
Gymnothoraz petelli Bleeker, Atlas, Muraen., 99, tab. xxxm, fig. 1, 1864. Jordan «& Seale, Bul. U.S. Fish Comm., xxv, 1905, 
Samoa. 
(?) Murena interrupta Kaup, Apodes, 67, fig. 51, 1854; Red Sea. 
Gymnothoraz leucacme Jenkins, Bul. U. S. Fish Comm., xxi, 1902, 427, fig. 7; Honolulu. 
Gymnothoraz waialue Snyder, Bul. U. 8. Fish Comm., xx1t, 1902, 520, pl. 6; Waialua (near Honolulu). 
A very young specimen of this species, 3 inches long, from Calayan, agrees perfectly with the figure 
and description of Gymmothorax waialux Snyder. The black crossbands are 17 or 18 in number, are 
complete below, and mostly wider than the adjacent pale interspaces. There isa black half band across 
the occiput, which reaches forward in a broad point between the eyes. The side of each upper jaw is 
black as far back as the eye. The tip of the nose is white, and from it a white band extends backward 
over the muzzle to the forehead, where it sends a branch outward and downward to each eye, forming 
a Y on forehead and muzzle. Adults of Gymnothorax petelli from Apia, Samoa, show the essentials of 
this color pattern, including the white Y on nose. The black crossbands on the body seem to become 
relatively wider (than the interspaces) with age. 
“<Gymnothorax riipellix’? McClelland (=reticularis, Bleeker, not of Bloch) has the black cross bands 
much narrower than the interspaces, both in adults and young, and has no black on the nose. It is evi- 
dently distinct from Gymnothorax petelli, as thought by Doctor Giinther, who had both adult and young 
specimens, from Borneo and the Moluccas. Gymnothorax reticularis Bloch (not of Bleeker) has the cross 
bands broader than the interspaces and the nose without band, but the head and back are spotted and 
vermiculated (as is shown in the figures by Bloch, Temminck & Schlegel, and Kaup). Specimens 
of this moray obtained by Messrs. Jordan & Snyder in Japan in 1901 establish apparently beyond ques- 
tion the identity of Bloch’s species, and its distinctness from both petelli and ruppellit. 
aLesson & Garnot, Voy. Coquille, 128, pl. 11, fig. 2, 1830. > Lesson & Garnot, op. cit., 127, pl. 11, fig. 1. 
